BOOK CLUB: The Last Song – Final Discussion Post

Here is the final discussion post for The Last Song Book Club. Be warned; if you have not read The Last Song, there are *SPOILERS* in this post. Proceed with caution.

1. Ronnie is a difficult teenager who is prone to acting out and is alienated from both her parents at the start of the novel. Were you rebellious as a teenager? How was this manifested? On the other side, have you ever had to deal with a rebellious teenager? Did Ronnie’s behavior touch a nerve?

I was not a rebellious teenager. I didn’t have to be. My mom entrusted me to do the right thing. Lucky for her (*wink wink*), I was a pretty good kid. Though, I did get arrested for shoplifting…

Ronnie was extremely rebellious. I wanted to smack her in the beginning of the book. I couldn’t believe how she treated her father. And even though there was a reason behind her ways - which you’ll find out at the end of the book - it was still unacceptable.

2. What do you think about the very different approaches to parenting taken by Ronnie’s mother and father? Do you think Ronnie’s mother is too intrusive or can you understand her relationship with Ronnie? Do you think Ronnie’s father is too absent, or can you understand why the relationship is the way it is?

Ronnie’s mom was too busy to find out what was going on with her own daughter. Knowing what all went on between Ronnie’s parents (which you won’t find out until towards the end of the book), I can’t believe her father let the mom go on as she did. I would have fought for my children. He seemed to give up too easily and he took all of the blame, even though he wasn’t the one to blame.

3. Early in the novel we learn that Ronnie was a piano prodigy who performed at Carnegie Hall when she was thirteen. However, when we meet Ronnie she hasn’t played in many years and she’s sworn to never play the piano again. Why does Ronnie feel this way? Who do you think Ronnie hurts more by not playing the piano, herself or her father?

Ronnie is disappointed in her father. She blames him for the unfolding of her family. She associates playing the piano with her dad so she stops. She doesn’t have anything to do with the piano from that point forward; she doesn’t even want to hear her father play. I think it hurts them both the same – her not playing the piano. Of course her father is proud of her and her talent. And he misses composing music together and she misses the bond they shared.

4. Reflecting back on his life, Steve wonders: “Was it still possible for someone like him to experience the presence of God?” Why does Steve ask himself this? What role do religion and belief play in this novel? How would you characterize Steve’s religious faith?

Being agnostic, I don’t feel that I’m qualified to answer the first two questions.

For me, I think religion plays too much of a role in this novel. A touch here and there I don’t mind. The only main character that is religious is Steve. And Ronnie didn’t even realize how religious of a man he was until she stayed with him that summer. She thought it was a new thing for him.

5. Why does Will fall for Ronnie? Can you understand the attraction from both Ronnie’s and Will’s point of view?

He falls for her because she’s different. She’s not like the other girls that he knows. She doesn’t kiss up to him because of his last name. She doesn’t know who he is or, more importantly, who his father is, and that’s a bonus. She’s raw and she’s real. She speaks her mind; she doesn’t just say what she thinks you want to hear. Also, for Will, it’s the thrill of the case – something he’s never had to do before.

Ronnie doesn’t like Will at first because she typecasts him as the cute, popular boy. Yeah, he’s cute and he is popular but there’s a lot more to him; he’s deeper than his outward appearances lead her to believe. And Ronnie doesn’t expect that.

6. What do you make of Blaze? How would you characterize her relationship with Marcus? Have you ever been in a relationship that was not particularly healthy? Did you stay in the relationship? If so, why?

I did not like Blaze. She chose the wrong crowd to hang out with and I don’t understand why she continued to be with Marcus with the way he treated her.

I wouldn’t say that it was an unhealthy relationship I was in; I was with someone for 4 years and we drifted apart. Days, even weeks would go by and I wouldn’t hear from him. We took a break for a couple of months and then gave it another go. But the same thing happened. I cut loose and didn’t look back.

7. Ronnie and Will fall in love very quickly over the course of the summer. Have you ever had a summer romance that became something more than a fling?

I’m not a fling kind of person. When I dated, I looked for someone who would last the long haul. With my husband, we were friends for a year before we even dated and that was by my choice.

8. This novel is, in large part, about loyalty and trust. Which characters exhibit the most trustworthiness and which exhibit the least? How does a betrayal of trust affect various relationships within the novel?

This is a hard question! I guess I would say that the most trustworthy character is Will. He doesn’t turn in his friend for the church fire incident, even though the right thing at the time would have been to do so. But in the end, it worked out for the best that Will did keep that secret to himself (with the exception of telling Ronnie) because new information comes to light and it turns out that Will’s friend wasn’t the cause of the fire.

Blaze is the most untrustworthy person in the book, in my opinion. She only looks out for herself. She set up Ronnie to get caught shoplifting, knowing that Ronnie already had a mark on her juvenile record and needed to stay straight to keep it off her permanent record. Even when Blaze finds out that Ronnie could indeed go to jail, she still doesn’t set the truth straight – and all because of Marcus. Yes, in the end Blaze does turn herself in but to me, she’s just a rotten person.

9. In the middle of the novel, Will asks Ronnie how far she would go to protect a friend. Why does Will ask Ronnie this? How far would you go to protect a friend?

Will wants to know what Ronnie would do in his situation, without telling her what his situation is. Will is in a tricky situation where he feels obligated to protect his friend’s secret, the same friend who saved Will’s own life and the life of his mom and his sister.

I can’t say whether or not I would do as Will did, given the situation. I think I’d have to actually be in that type of situation in order to make a decision like that.

10. How are Jonah and Ronnie affected by their parents’ divorce? What effect does divorce have on children, in your experience?

Jonah handles it better than Ronnie. He’s open to his visit for the summer with his father. Ronnie, on the other hand, has a strong resentment towards her father. She later finds out her actions are unjustified because she was led to believe something that didn’t actually happen the way she thought.

I believe that the effect a divorce has on children is based on the way the parents handle it. Kids look to their parents for clues on how to act.

11. Both Will and Ronnie come from families that have certain expectations of them. How do these familial expectations shape them and in what ways do they reject these expectations?

Ronnie is a prodigy pianist. She has even composed music with her father. She got accepted to Juilliard but refuses to go because she thinks that’s what her father expects her to do and she’s not going to do anything that would make him happy. Especially when Ronnie thinks it is her father’s fault for her parent’s divorce.

Will’s family all went to Vanderbilt so he’s expected to go there too. It doesn’t matter that that’s not where he wants to go to college but he applies, and gets accepted, because that is what is expected of him and he doesn’t want to let his family down. He will even go as far as to stop pursuing his own dreams just to appease his family.

12. Why does Ronnie get angry at Will toward the end of the novel? Do you think her anger is justified?

She’s mad at Will because he kept a secret to protect his friend from going to jail, or worse. A secret that evolves a church that was completely damaged due to a fire; a church that doesn’t have the money to rebuild because the insurance company won’t cover all the damage. A church where she knows the Pastor, who happens to be really good friends with her father.

I can see how Ronnie feels but at the same time Will is in a tough predicament. Will’s friend, the one who could go to jail if this secret ever came out, saved not only Will’s life but the life of Will’s mom and sister. Will feels obligated to pay this huge debt.

13. What do you think of the choices Steve and Kim make as parents? Do you think they were right in keeping certain things secret from their children?

This question hits very close to home for me; I was in the exact same position that Ronnie and Jonah were in. Back then, when I was 15 years old, I couldn’t understand why my parents would keep that secret from me. They both knew about what was going on for 4 years and they didn’t tell me about the situation until about a month before my father passed away. I felt cheated. My parents separated when I was about 12 years old and I lived with my mom. I would see my dad about once a week. He would also take me on little road trips, just me and him (I’m an only child). But during that time, being a bratty teenage like most of us were, I didn’t want to be on those trips. I wanted to be with my friends. I was selfish. But at the same time, I didn’t know that these would be the last trips that I would take with my father, ever. I was pretty upset when I found out and when I did find out, it was too late to make up for my selfishness. I know that my father enjoyed his time with me on those trips, and that’s what really matters. But knowing then, what I know now, I would have cherished those trips a bit more.

Now that I’m all grown up and I’m a parent myself, I can understand the reason behind my parents' decision (and Steve’s and Kim’s decision). If you knew that your time was coming to an end, you’d want to spend as much time with your children as possible. But at the same time, you don’t want them to feel forced into having a good time; you don’t want it to feel tainted.

14. Ronnie makes an important choice at the end of the novel. Would you have made the same choice if you were in her position?

Ronnie makes more than one important choice at the end; (1) she stays back in North Carolina (instead of going back home to New York with her mom and her brother) to take care of her dying father and (2) she reapplies for Julliard. So I’ll answer for both choices.

(1) Yes, I would definitely stay back to help out my father. For Ronnie, it was a chance for her to make-up for being a brat in the first part of the summer, and for the past 3 years. She gets to spend the last part of her father’s life with him alone. She gets to find out everything she ever wanted to know about him. But let’s not fool ourselves here; this is a tough thing to do, helping someone who is terminally ill and watching them pass on. But to get a chance to be able to make up for some loss time is a chance I would jump on in a second.

(2) Yes, if I were the prodigy pianist that Ronnie is, I would reapply to Julliard. She feels connected to her father at Julliard and she want to embrace that. And I’m sure there’s a part of her that wants to do it for her father.

15. In what ways does Ronnie change over the course of the novel? In what ways does she stay the same?

Ronnie matures and does a bit of growing up. She loses that resentment towards her father that she was hanging onto for the last 3 years.

Ronnie’s always been a good person, one to do the right thing. I think that resentment she held on to just overshadowed her vision for a while, blinding her from appreciating life and what it has to offer.

The Last Song Book Club:
The Book Vixen (that’s me!)
The Book Junkie's Bookshelf (Book Club co-host)
I Have a Dream
My Own Little Corner of the World
Lilium's Realm
Lovin' & Livin' Life Reviews
Vision Quest Fail
Kiss My Book
I So Rather Be Reading (Kelli and Natalie)
Book Soulmates
Swords for Fighting
The Unread Reader