If you haven't read the book:
The book is told from a 13 year old's point of view of her life with her father while living in the forest in Oregon. Although they are homeless, she seems content and well cared for, physically and educationally, until one day someone sees them, tells the police and they are tracked down and she is taken into care. The story of how they got to be living in the forest in Oregon isn't revealed until the end of the book. Neither is it ever revealed if he is her real father or not.
The book is haunting in its telling and there's lots of mystery and unanswered questions through the book, not all of which (like, is he her real father?) are resolved. I can't really say much more without spoiling the story if you haven't read the book. I did read the book quickly and thoroughly enjoyed it, but now it has left me with questions.
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If you have read the book:
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this is a spoiler alert and a discussion only for if you have finished the book
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So only scroll down if you've read the book
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I've read many reviews in other places and no one thought the same as I did, so here's my personal opinion or suspicions.
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At the end of the book she puts together her own manuscript of the events that have happened to her, so everything is her opinion. Like they say, winners write the story of battles, so the real truth was never written down.
I think she killed her own father, and here are my reasonings.
Their arrival at the yurt and the discovery of Susan and Paul was just strange. The characters themselves didn't seem human. Then you have to ask yourself, how did Susan manage to electrocute the father when he was fully awake, and presumably not very compliant? An average man can overcome an average woman, this part is unbelievable.
Then Caroline takes her father down the hill in thick snow and a bunch of teenagers arrive to have a party in a cave. Remember they are in the middle of nowhere and there is thick snow and the road cannot be found. This part of the story is also unbelievable. Where did they park their cars? Surely there wasn't a parking lot next to the cave.
So this is what I think happened, Caroline was kidnapped by a man who was not her father and used as a sex slave. Caroline doesn't say that they were having sex, but remember, she was writing the story. In a similar way to the Elizabeth Smart story, she was a prisoner, but was compliant. Would you want to admit that if it were you?
So I think that rather than being a great father, he was really holding her hostage and having sex with her. Then finally when she saw her chance, she murdered him. The clue is that earlier in the story she was told of other homeless people who had died by electrocution. When Caroline and her father entered the yurt and saw the wires, she murdered her father while he slept. Then she took him to an empty cave and disposed of his body.
But because the story was written by Caroline, she couldn't write any of that, so we have this bizarre story of strange and unrealistic people.
What do you think?
