The Bourne Identity, Week 4

Welcome to the final discussion of The Bourne Identity. 

Did you enjoy reading this week? Did the book end the way you wanted it to? Would you recommend the book to a friend? 

One thing I struggled with throughout the whole book was keeping track of all of the tertiary characters. There were so many different names throughout the book! Did you have a hard time trying to stay on top of all of the people Bourne talked to? I think it was made worse that so many people had code names or aliases. That definitely didn't help me remember who anyone was. 

I was so glad when we finally got to know who Bourne really was. I couldn't believe we had to wait until the very last pages to really get to understand Bourne's story. It's revealed that he is really a man named David Webb who turned to Medusa after his wife and children were killed. And, he killed the original Jason Bourne and assumed his name after the real Bourne was found to be a traitor and would have harmed David's brother. Were you surprised by any of that reveal? The end seems to suggest that David will be able to heal in his mind and might be able to become David again, but I'm not so sure. He sustained a lot of trauma over the years! I don't know how he will be able to sort through all of the alter-egos and deception to become himself again. Do you think Marie will stay with him through that process? I think the end of the book hints that she will. 

Even after they  hunted him down and almost killed him, the Americans want him to continue to help them hunt Carlos since he is the only person who knows what Carlos looks like. Is that fair that they ask that of him? I couldn't believe that they still want Bourne to work for them. I hope they give him more time to heal before they send him out to hunt for Carlos.  

What did you think of Villiers throughout this last section? I couldn't believe that he ended up killing his wife before they got any information out of her. It was a surprise that she was Carlos's mistress, and I can understand how that was such a betrayal to Villiers. I guess her death ended up working in their favor because they were able to use the death to lure out Carlos. But, it was still hard to read about her death, and it was hard to read about how they described her and her dead body. Bourne was lucky that Villiers decided to help him. Villiers keeps saying that he trusted Bourne based on what he saw in Bourne's eyes. That must have been the same thing that Marie saw. I just couldn't believe that Bourne was able to find people who trusted and believed in him after he was so violent and aggressive. 

At one point, Conklin and some other intelligence agents think that Bourne might have schizophrenia. Why would that be more easy to believe than the truth that he had amnesia? Why would Bourne lie about having amnesia? 

What else stood out to you in this section? Did you enjoy the pacing of the book? Do you find yourself wanting to read more about Bourne? Do you think you might read the next book in the series? If you enjoyed this book and would like to read and watch similar things, check out this list I created. Make sure to let me know if you check out anything on the list!

Before you go, check out this video from the author who took over the Jason Bourne series after Robert Ludlum passed away. What do you think of series that continue after an author passes away? 

Thank you so much for joining us this month! I hope you enjoyed the book--make sure to leave a comment to let me know what you thought! Next, we're reading The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. I hope you'll read along with us again next month!