Can You Ever Forgive Me, Week 4

Welcome to our final Online Book Club discussion of Can You Ever Forgive Me?

What did you think? The ending wasn't what I was expecting. I thought for sure that she would serve jail time or feel some sort of remorse for her crimes. It didn't seem like she did. Were you surprised by her tone throughout the book? Were you also surprised by the scope of her forgeries? She created 150 letters for Noël Coward alone. She made so many letters! 

Did any of you feel like her "Trimester Two" was even more bold than her original plan? I couldn't believe that she was able to get into the libraries and steal letters from them.

I don't mean to harp on the typewriters, but I just can't get over the fact that she dumped all of her typewriters in the trash when she felt like the FBI was coming after her. All of those typewriters, just in the trash! I can't believe it. If she were unloading all of those typewriters today, she could get a lot of money since typewriters are such collector's items.

Speaking of typewriters and collectors of typewriters, did you know that Tom Hanks is a big collector of typewriters? He loves them so much that he wrote a collection of short stories that all involve typewriters, called Uncommon Type. He also wrote the foreword to Typewriters, which you can read at the Chronicle Books Blog. 

Near the end of the book when Israel first meets and talks to an FBI agent who was known to have uncovered forgeries, she mentions the Hitler diaries and the Mormon forgeries. The Hitler diaries forgery is fascinating, and if you're interested in learning more, check out this news story from The Independent published 35 years after the forgeries were first discovered. The plot of this forgery is so interesting that I think it would make for a great movie. The Mormon forgeries are equally as interesting, so make sure you check out this news story from the Deseret News as well. I'm surprised I had never heard of either of these forgeries before. Do you remember when they were in the news? 

Israel also mentions finding stationery from hotels to make her forgeries more believable. Do you want to visit the Lombardy or the Algonquin Hotel after seeing how they figured in to Israel's story? 

Lee Israel seems like she was a very interesting person. Even though I read this book, I feel like I don't really understand her, and I don't feel like I learned much about her through the book. Do you feel like she is still a bit of a mystery? If you're curious how Melissa McCarthy got into character for the movie version, check out the clip below. 

I hope that you enjoyed reading along with us this month. If you liked the book and are interested in reading and watching related books and movies, check out this list I created. Let me know if you check out anything on the list. 

Thanks so much for following along this month. Make sure to leave a comment to tell me all of your thoughts. I hope you'll join us again starting August 5 as we read A Dog's Purpose.