Angela's Character

Use this forum to discuss the June 2018 Book of the Month"The Girl Who Knew da Vinci" by Belle Ami
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Swat3737
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Re: Angela's Character

Post by Swat3737 »

cristinaro wrote: 04 Jun 2018, 07:02 On the whole, she seemed so helpless although she is first introduced as a strong woman with a doctorate in progress and the internship of her dreams. She gradually relies completely on Alex who apparently becomes her boss in both her professional and private life.
I agree completely. Every scene after the first third of the book, she cries at the smallest things which makes her seem weak and helpless. I don't think this was the author's intention, but in making Alex seem like the perfect man, it took away from Angela's strength and character. Also, the number of references to Alex's eye wiggling was maddening!
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Post by Yerenzhu »

Whenever she started spending more and more time with Alex, I felt as if her character, being this prominent strong female lead was overshadowed by Alex's powerful character. He had money and a fortune. She just had her brains. I wished we could have seen more with her character development.
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Post by Power Onyango »

Angela was a strong character. She is the fighting spirit of womanhood. Her flaws towards the book end dampens her personality.
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Post by KMSingh »

I agree that Angela's character was very underdeveloped. She's described as brilliant, but never does anything brilliant. But her worse sin, in my opinion, was her passivity. I mean this in a dramatic sense. She is, after all, the title character. She's the focus of the story, yet she doesn't actually DO anything aside from having visions and fainting. Things happen TO her. She never makes a strong choice that drives the action forward, which is the definition of dramatic action.

I also had a problem with how the story was resolved. SPOILER ALERT: Basically, the Angela and Alex are saved by the actions of the "ghosts". The concept was interesting, but the execution needed a lot more development.
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KMSingh
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Post by KMSingh »

Jgideon wrote: 06 Jun 2018, 06:37 Thanks to the creativity of the author, Angela's education and brilliant mind would not have solved the mystery without the past-life regression. I think that's the whole idea about the story. I do agree with you that somehow the regressions made her look silly but her ability to solve the puzzle makes her a strong character.
But did she solve the mystery? I don't think so. All the clues were handed to her in the visions. At no time did either she or Alex try to do anything about the clues. The one exception might be their trip to meet Sophia's daughter in order to learn the location of the cave. But even then the only clue is given to Angela in a vision, which was annoying because she'd already been given that clue in an earlier vision.

A lot of this was inherent in the story's concept of past life regression. But every story concept has some inherent problem or challenge that the writer must solve in order to develop the story.
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Post by Prisallen »

I think she proved she was strong when she thwarted Scordato's attempt to rape her. Yes, I agree that there were times that I wished she would quit crying and move on, but, maybe, we all have aspects of both in us.
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Post by Julie Petitbon »

I thought she was a strong women who was emotionally and physically weakened by what was happening to her. Trusting Alex while she was so vulnerable showed strength as well. That being said, her character did seem inconsistent at times, especially toward the end when she seemed more helpless victim than strong, independent woman.
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Post by Choine »

I liked her character at first. However, once the whole romance-thing started, I started thinking of her as some helpless, love-sick teenager.
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Post by Jajachris »

revna01 wrote: 06 Jun 2018, 09:56 I feel like the relationship between Angela and Alex did no favors to Angela's likeability. With the extent and nature of her education, I would have expected a stronger character throughout the book.
You opinion is spot-on. I cannot agree less to the fact that her relationship with Alex did no favors to her likeability. S
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Post by Medhansh Bhardwaj »

Seeing such a passionate and independent woman turn into a helpless girl was definitely hard for me. But this was the way the author developed Angela's character, so I think it's fine.
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Post by Simmons32 »

I will admit I didn’t care for the whole reincarnation thing, but I didn’t have an issue with the character. What I didn’t care for is that it seemed to always be sex on the brain with these characters, including Angela.
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Post by Ashna_Tibrewal_7 »

Sh started with strong character but slowly turned silly. I think this portrayed that she got out of her barriers and now finally lives freely instead of trying to save and protect herself.
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Post by Trashford »

I think Angela's character was quite different from the characters of her past life, she was kinda soft, easily oppressed and harrased; things her alter ego won't take likely.
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Post by Monica Omonigho Bennymoore »

Angela's character almost became irrelevant due to the over excessive apparitions experienced by a clueless personality who does not know what to do with the visions. She was a weakling in the better part of the book until the last episode where she was manipulated to do the right thing. She hardly had a mind of her own despite advantaged positions she occupies.
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Post by Mellino Itz »

Even the strongest gets week at time, The abuse she faced at work, the sleeplessness, the trance and her trying to understand herself before Alex came into her life all played a role in her regression. To me she was still a very strong character.
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