Pushing the Limits Read-Along Week 2!

Welcome to the second week of...

The Pushing The Limits by Katie McGarry Read-Along!!

This fabulous event is hosted by Candace Book Blog, Me @ Dazzling Reads, The Page Turners, Mary @ The Book Swarm and The Bewitched Bookworms.

Schedule:

• July 24 - Intro Post for the Read-A-Long - Linky for Participation! 
• July 31 - Bewitched Bookworms Pages 7-84 ends with a Noah Chapter + Pushing the Limits Giveaway here at Dazzling Reads! =D
• Aug 7th - The Page Turners Pages 85 - 162 - ends with a Noah Chapter - Today!
• Aug 14th - Candace Book Blog Pages 163 - 239 - ends with a Noah Chapter
• Aug 21th - Dazzling Reads Pages 240 - 316 - ends with a Echo chapter
• Aug 28th - The Book Swarm Pages 317 - 392

Special Event: Evening of August 28th - Live Twitter Chat with Author Katie McGarry!!!!

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And now onto the Questions for this week:

1. Noah and Echo create a plan to read their files. What do you think of this plan? Would you read your friends file first knowing you might not have time to read your own? Would you want to read your own file?
Everything would really depend on the circumstances. If I were in Echo's place, I would have done exactly the same thing due to the urgency of Noah's complex situation with his brothers. And would I have wanted to read my own file? In Echo's situation, of course I would have, and I would have been probably as desperate as Noah and Echo were.

2. Mrs. Collins starts to earn Noah’s trust by taking him to see his brother win a writing contest.  What do you think of how she’s handling Noah?  How would you feel if you were in Noah’s position, hearing that your brother sees you as his hero? 
I haven't experience anything quiet like that in my life and I am a believer that you have to experience in order to understand and feel a specific emotion and situation. If nobody close to me has ever died, I can't imagine nor feel what the people at the cemetery are going through when they are lowering their beloved one deep into the ground.
In this case, it is really hard for me to know what I would feel if I were in Noah's place since I have never experience anything like that before. However I can imagine and empathize with him and, as a reader, feel in a lowered scale the love and pride that Noah experiences the moment he sees his little brother telling the audience his big brother is a hero.

3. Echo is starting to draw and paint again.  She’s starting to express the feelings and what she’s seeing as she’s starting to remember what happened that day.  Art therapy seems to be a popular way for people to deal with their feelings, why do you think Echo’s dad didn’t want her to continue with art since it was such a big part of her and is part of so many people’s therapy in dealing with similar issues?
Creativity and mental illness go hand in hand (it has been proved). Artists are more sensitive than non-artist people and are more vulnerable to mental disorders. Like Echo's mother herself. Echo's father was clearly afraid of her daughter to become like her mother. Not to mention that art itself reminds him of the woman who he once loved, but unfortunately, went mad and then lost to bipolar disorder.

4. We see how crazy Beth’s home life is and we start to understand why she is not as keen to be trusting with people in her life.  At the same time, we get to see how fiercely loyal Noah is.  What do you think of the way Noah reacted to Beth being beaten by her mother’s boyfriend?  Do you think it’s showing bad behavior that could get Noah in more trouble or the act of a true friend?
At this point of the book, I think it is clear that there is much more to Noah than meet the eye. He is not a bad guy at all and he acted to defend his friend. Not out of  impulsive bad behavior.

5. Echo has an unusual name.  What do you think of the story behind it?  Is there a Greek Myth or other story that would inspire you to name a child after a character?
I love when parents give meaningful names to their children! Names are very important and we should just give them away because they sound pretty. There should be a meaning and a story behind it. After all, that's the way people will call us all our lives. Now for the mythology, I never was much of a Greek Mythology fan. I am a Norse mythology geek with even some pagan beliefs. So no, no Greek even though Nordic Gods have their equivalent in Greeks. Still, stories are not the same.

6. Echo’s big thing is trying to find “normal” again.  She doesn’t want to be the scared girl or the girl who can’t remember what happened to her, she just wants to be normal.  This goal impacts her relationships with her family, friends, Noah and her ex Luke.   But at the end of this section, Echo is starting to figure out that there’s no going back to old normal and she’s going to have to find a new normal.   How big of a step is it for Echo when she realizes she’s not “in” love with Luke and figures out that she does need to find a new normal?

I think from that moment, her story started to move towards the right direction. She realized that normal can be subjective and relative. Luke was one of those normal things that was not really normal since she didn't love him. Is it normal to be with a normal someone because he is normal?  Is it normal to be with someone you don't love? of course not.

Please feel free to grab the Button and help us spread the word about this feature!

 

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Link Up for participation!! Just add your Blog or outlet where you are going to post your answers! Thank you so much for participating!