Claire

Use this forum to discuss the March 2020 Book of the month, "House of Eire" by June Gillam.
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Faithful Oso
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Re: Claire

Post by Faithful Oso »

I loved the character of Claire in this book, her childish behavior, her humor was fascinating and the fact that she renamed her doll ''punzey'' was funny.
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Post by Kemmy11 »

claire had a fascinating sense of humor, although, at some point, it got a bit annoying. but shes was just being herself. she made the book interesting.
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Post by ZettieOby »

The character of Claire seem to wonderfully play out being a child.
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Post by Samgum50 »

Her character was refreshing to read about and brought pure entertainment to the story.
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Post by kelvingat »

Clare is a young girl who adds value to the novel, her character is also described in a nice way that will triggered your imagination toward Clare.
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Post by sirbobthewise »

djr6090 wrote: 05 Mar 2020, 10:43 I found Claire to be a bit of an annoyance. She didn't "run," she "rushed." She didn't "say" anything, she "shrieked." Although she was important to the resolution of the plot, I didn't find her to be a very likable child.
I agree with this. Although I know that kids at that age are tough to manage and that many of them are pretty self-centered, there was something off about her character. Perhaps it's just that the writing didn't help me out, but I felt like there was almost something disconnected about her. She didn't really engage in emotions very well, didn't really process Sarah's death well, and she was utterly obsessed with dark things. I mean, sure, some kids get a kick out of scary things, but I don't know if I've met a child that in love with ghosts and death unless they have experienced something traumatic. Perhaps I just haven't spent enough time with kids that age, though.
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sirbobthewise
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Post by sirbobthewise »

NetMassimo wrote: 01 Mar 2020, 06:04 I agree. I found funny that I could get Claire more easily than Hillary even if I'm probably older than Hillary.
Yes! I actually found it easier to emotionally connect and care about Claire than Hillary. Claire's character was a lot easier to process and understand, where Hillary's character never quite felt solid for me.
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Post by ThomasCShearman1976 »

sirbobthewise wrote: 09 Jun 2020, 02:03
djr6090 wrote: 05 Mar 2020, 10:43 I found Claire to be a bit of an annoyance. She didn't "run," she "rushed." She didn't "say" anything, she "shrieked." Although she was important to the resolution of the plot, I didn't find her to be a very likable child.
I agree with this. Although I know that kids at that age are tough to manage and that many of them are pretty self-centered, there was something off about her character. Perhaps it's just that the writing didn't help me out, but I felt like there was almost something disconnected about her. She didn't really engage in emotions very well, didn't really process Sarah's death well, and she was utterly obsessed with dark things. I mean, sure, some kids get a kick out of scary things, but I don't know if I've met a child that in love with ghosts and death unless they have experienced something traumatic. Perhaps I just haven't spent enough time with kids that age, though.
I wasn't a fan of Claire either, and my eyes and brain hurt more with every passing 'Maaaaaa'. I just heard a sheep.

Flippancy aside, her reaction to Sarah's death was not believable at all. I felt Claire was a little false and mainly used for plot development.
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sirbobthewise
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Post by sirbobthewise »

ThomasCShearman1976 wrote: 09 Jun 2020, 12:33
sirbobthewise wrote: 09 Jun 2020, 02:03
djr6090 wrote: 05 Mar 2020, 10:43 I found Claire to be a bit of an annoyance. She didn't "run," she "rushed." She didn't "say" anything, she "shrieked." Although she was important to the resolution of the plot, I didn't find her to be a very likable child.
I agree with this. Although I know that kids at that age are tough to manage and that many of them are pretty self-centered, there was something off about her character. Perhaps it's just that the writing didn't help me out, but I felt like there was almost something disconnected about her. She didn't really engage in emotions very well, didn't really process Sarah's death well, and she was utterly obsessed with dark things. I mean, sure, some kids get a kick out of scary things, but I don't know if I've met a child that in love with ghosts and death unless they have experienced something traumatic. Perhaps I just haven't spent enough time with kids that age, though.
I wasn't a fan of Claire either, and my eyes and brain hurt more with every passing 'Maaaaaa'. I just heard a sheep.

Flippancy aside, her reaction to Sarah's death was not believable at all. I felt Claire was a little false and mainly used for plot development.
I agree with Claire being used mainly for plot development. I would even say that Sarah was used for that reason, as well, which is a little frustrating, because it makes me feel like these characters were introduced into the story just so that something terrible could happen to them and move the story along. That feels kinda icky. Especially because I still don't really understand the circumstances and rationale behind Sarah's death. Out of all of the sub-characters in Hillary's circle, I think Ed might have added the most value; but, their relationship felt very odd to me, as well.

Now that I think about it, though, I think it has to do with the fact that I never really emotionally connected with Hillary; and due to the fact that the book takes Hillary's perspective, it would make sense that I would struggle with connecting to the other characters because her words and thoughts just always felt off to me. Then again, I've only ever read this book out of the series, so I might feel differently if I read the previous books.
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Post by ThomasCShearman1976 »

sirbobthewise wrote: 09 Jun 2020, 19:03
ThomasCShearman1976 wrote: 09 Jun 2020, 12:33
sirbobthewise wrote: 09 Jun 2020, 02:03

I agree with this. Although I know that kids at that age are tough to manage and that many of them are pretty self-centered, there was something off about her character. Perhaps it's just that the writing didn't help me out, but I felt like there was almost something disconnected about her. She didn't really engage in emotions very well, didn't really process Sarah's death well, and she was utterly obsessed with dark things. I mean, sure, some kids get a kick out of scary things, but I don't know if I've met a child that in love with ghosts and death unless they have experienced something traumatic. Perhaps I just haven't spent enough time with kids that age, though.
I wasn't a fan of Claire either, and my eyes and brain hurt more with every passing 'Maaaaaa'. I just heard a sheep.

Flippancy aside, her reaction to Sarah's death was not believable at all. I felt Claire was a little false and mainly used for plot development.
I agree with Claire being used mainly for plot development. I would even say that Sarah was used for that reason, as well, which is a little frustrating, because it makes me feel like these characters were introduced into the story just so that something terrible could happen to them and move the story along. That feels kinda icky. Especially because I still don't really understand the circumstances and rationale behind Sarah's death. Out of all of the sub-characters in Hillary's circle, I think Ed might have added the most value; but, their relationship felt very odd to me, as well.

Now that I think about it, though, I think it has to do with the fact that I never really emotionally connected with Hillary; and due to the fact that the book takes Hillary's perspective, it would make sense that I would struggle with connecting to the other characters because her words and thoughts just always felt off to me. Then again, I've only ever read this book out of the series, so I might feel differently if I read the previous books.
I, too, have only read this book in the series and wondered if that was part of the disconnect. And Sarah's death was sudden, unexplained and then life just seemed to carry on afterwards.

Personally, I could have done with less about their holiday and more exploring the Bridget/Seamus relationship, the aftermath of Bridget's and Sarah's deaths, and some more character introspection.

And less Claire! :) Others loved that element of the book, and the mother-daughter relationship, so I guess it's horses for courses!
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Post by bjoly2 »

I also felt that Claire provided most of the comedic relief in the story. Her quirks and playfulness were very relatable and felt like I was reading about my niece at that age. The "Maaaa," while endearing at first, became a pain to read as I was drawing out the word in my head unnecessarily. I also felt that Claire wasn't able to fully grasp the impact of two murders so close to her and the danger that was present in Seamus, but I could chalk that up to childhood innocence and naiveté.

As others have mentioned, Claire seemed to be more relatable than Hillary. I am tempted to read other novels in this series to see if there is an opportunity for emotional attachment to Hillary.
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Post by Mary1214 »

For me, Claire was my favorite character in the story. June Gilliam really captures the essence of a child and truly forms a connection with the reader.
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Post by LinaJan »

I don't particularly like children, but I agree with the person that started this thread - Claire was definitely a charming child and was the only source of 'lightening the mood.'
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Post by Ada Ling »

Josephe-Anne wrote: 01 Mar 2020, 05:45 I agree that Claire provided most of the humour in the story. Her character was original and well developed.

I'm sure that many parents can identify unique traits and habits that their children display too. This makes Claire a very relatable character.
Can not agree more on this!
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