Pushing The Limits Read-A-Long: 1st week

I am so excited to be participating in the Pushing the Limits Read-A-Long hosted by Candace's Book Blog, Dazzling Reads, Page Turners, The Book Swarm and Bewitched Bookworms. Pushing the Limits has captivated me from the very first page so I'm really looking forward to this event. It's my first time to join a read-a-long but I'm sure it's going to be a blast. If you want to participate just head here.

Questions for the week:

1. The story starts out with Echo’s thoughts on how she wants to answer her therapist’s questions (snarky and caustically truthful) which are quickly juxtaposed to how she does (milque-toasty and banal).  Who do you think she hides the truth for more, her parents or herself?

I think in both ways, yes. Truth is something Echo runs away from, in my opinion. I guess if you're living with that kind of family and has a control-freak dad, you'll resort to that just to save yourself from an argument you know you couldn't win.

2. We see Mrs. Collins, the school therapist, interact with both Echo and Noah in the first few chapters.  From those interactions, what do you think of her?  Is she a prototypical caricature of state care?  Or do you think she’s there to make an honest difference in the lives of those she’s there to help?

I find Mrs. Collins really overbearing and somewhat pushy. But this could also means that she actually cares. Those traits didn't make her any likeable than Echo's parents but at least she can stand her ground when Echo's father go into an authoritative-crappy mode.

3. Noah has two friends, Beth and Isaiah, who have his back no matter what–through thick and thin–and he has theirs. Consequently, his life is a little easier because he has two people who know about his situation. Echo only has one close friend, and Lila will barely speak to her in school. Do you think Echo would have had an easier time coping and moving on if she had friends like Noah does?

I believe so. Friends could get you through the toughest times but it's important to note that they're still young and they have this thinking that the world revolves around them. I do see Echo as a quiet, introvert person after the incident so I think a friend who'd just be there by her side no matter what is a good thing.

4 . Echo fixates on a colorful ribbon that sits on the school counselor’s desk during their one-on-one sessions. Do you think this is a case of “Oh, look at the pretty ribbon. Let me zone out while staring at it”, or could it have a deeper significance!

There's something really curious about the ribbon. I think it wouldn't be there if it's not significant. I feel it's something really important to Echo...

5 .) Noah and the jacket… Already when Noah and Echo meet for the first time, Noah got angry when Echo forgot her Jacket (pg 34). Then on Echo’s Birthday party Noah gave Echo his jacket when he saw that she forgot hers (pg 54). There is a significance behind his anger when Echo has no coat and it tells already so much about Noah!

a) Why do you think is Noah so focused on Echo and her Jacket and what does that tell you about Noah’s character?

It's the first indication that Noah isn't what he seems! It showed his soft, caring side. He just didn't know how to translate it to something that is not crude or snarky. 

6. Echo wears gloves all the time to hide her scars. Not only for her sake, but obviously also for the others. When Noah sees Echo’s scars for the first time he’s shocked.

a) Do you think this was the moment he began to see Echo in a different light?

Noah clearly branded Echo as someone who is a stuck-up rich girl who plays dress up and who cares about social statuses or who dates who. So I think when Noah saw Echo's scars, she realizes that there's more to Echo than he thinks.