TRWR: How did you feel about Garnet Dern’s choice?

In possession of Angie’s diaries and the information they contained, Garnet had the power to destroy Angie and, in many ways, Brody and herself. I think Garnet realized she could not destroy only Angie, Brody would also be a casualty. I also don’t think Garnet wanted to destroy anyone, even a rival for Brody’s affection. Garnet was not going to leave her husband. She said as much. She wanted Brody too but I am not sure she was willing to pay the price of destroying anyone. Initially, that was surprising but after watching how the story unfolded, how Brody and Tom became close and the dynamics of the Dern family, Garnet’s decision fit for me.

I think the condition that Angie tell Brody about her past was Garnet’s retribution, payback for Angie’s budding relationship with a man Garnet loved and wanted. I suspect Garnet hoped that Angie’s past would be a deal breaker for Brody and also know it would not be. Garnet was gambling and expected to lose her bet.

Garnet was not my favorite character or one I saw as particularly heroic. Still, like all of the characters, she is more than a stereotype of the unfaithful wife. At the part of the story when I realized that Angie’s diaries were in Garnet’s possession, I held my breath until they were returned but I think Garnet was also not one who took pleasure in another person’s destruction.

I feel that Garnet Dern’s choice not to destroy her rival Angie was her one redeeming quality. She is manipulative, requesting Brody’s help in delivering food to Marta, even though he was about to eat lunch. She uses spoilage of potato salad to deprive him of lunch and get him away from Angie. She is jealous and tells Brody that he and Angie are dating because he gave Angie a ride to Loretta Wicklow’s party. “You’re the best thing about my life, Brody. If I lost this, I don’t know what I’d do.” These words were the key to the “lock that secured the chain around his heart, that kept him hers.” And she knew it. Eventually, Brody realizes that she is content with her life with his brother and he is able to break free.

Garnet is depicted as a selfish person. She has a comfortable, happy life with her husband and children, yet she also has the excitement and romance of her affair with Brody. She’s the definition of “having your cake and eating it too.” I think she sensed that Brody was questioning if he should continue their relationship, not only because she was unwilling to leave his brother but also because of his reaching out to Angie. When she came into possession of Angie’s diaries, the question was would she choose to destroy Angie? All indicators pointed in that direction.

I’m not 100% sure how I feel about WKK’s depiction of Garnet’s sexual energy as destructive. He writes her as pulling men into her orbit and the men being helpless around her. It teeters on being a cliche of the “femme fatale.” I say this in part because of the passage with Scott. His encounter with her encourages him to follow his friend to invade Kyoko’s privacy and results in her dog being shot. So Garnet’s sexual presence triggers destructive choices. I appreciated that WKK tried to balance Garnet’s character by showing her helping Marta’s family and such. In doing so, he makes her choice to not use Angie’s diaries publicly more plausible. Yet, she still imposes the condition on Angie, which she didn’t need to do. She may tell Angie (and herself) it’s to protect Brody, but I think I agree with Jane that it’s a last “Hail Mary” pass to see if Brody backs off from Angie.

Ultimately, I think both Garnet and Brody realize their relationship simply has run its course and would never work. If she were to leave her husband, doing so would really destroy the entire family, and neither of them wants that.

Jane, Nancy, Tara– I think you’ve all nailed it. Garnet wasn’t a one-dimensional femme fatale. She was manipulative, and selfish in wanting Brody to stay locked into her life while being unwilling to change anything herself. She was stifling his ability to ever have anything more for himself, though he was willing enough to go along with it. I think he came to his own realization that he needed to be OK with this for the rest of his life, or move on. Realizing that Angie was interested in him, and that he could indeed have more, awakened something in himself that I don’t think he had previously— hope.

I agree, Tara, that both Garnet and Brody sensed that their time together was coming to an end; and while Garnet may at one time have used those diaries against Angie to destroy both her reputation and her relationship with Brody, at this point in her life, she wasn’t willing to do that outright. Instead, she chose to protect Angie’s social status and reputation, while allowing Brody to decide for himself whether or not he would stand by her, knowing the facts. I think that Garnet, even as selfish and self-serving as she was, took this gamble because she did love Brody enough to want him to be happy, finally, whatever he chose to do, and realized that losing him wouldn’t destroy all the contentment in her life after all. She may also have empathized with Angie, understanding what secrets like Angie’s, and her own affair, could do to a person’s life, if exposed.