# data[].attributes.body
" 'Did you think I was never going to see it?' Albie asked. 'I mean, maybe that was a good guess. It took me long enough.'
'I was trying to explain to him before you got here.' Leo said, pouring some gin in a glass. 'Writers get their inspiration from a lot of places. It's never any one thing.' " pp. 210

# data[].attributes.body
"But seeing this movie now would bring back more than just her betrayal of her family. The movie also spoke to the failure of her long-ago relationship and the lonely death of the man she had loved, as sold by his second wife. Franny hadn't understood what it would be like to live with Commonwealth when Leo was writing the book, and once she'd read the book it was too late to do anything about it. The movie, however, was another matter. The movie had yet to be made. Franny begged Leo to keep the rights." pp. 228-229

# data[].attributes.body
Ann Patchett

# data[].attributes.body
“I’ve always been writing about my family, but up until now I’d been very clever to hide everyone in giant costumes made out of chicken wire and masking tape.”

"I have a real fear that the whole publication of this novel is going to center around questions of autobiography, .... Most of the things in this book didn’t actually happen, but the feelings are very close to home. Or, as my mother said, 'None of it happened and all of it’s true.' " (Philpott 2016)

# data[].attributes.body
"The collective eyes of the movie theater fell upon them. No one hushed them. Up on the screen the scene had changed. Now Cal's character was running down the street past the neighbour's houses in the middle of the day, his brother running behind him, trying to catch up. There was for that moment enough light that the patrons could see the noise was coming from an old man in a wheelchair. There were two women trying to help him up. No one knew that they were the movie. 'Get out of here,' Fix said, his voice keening." pp. 234-235

# data[].attributes.body
"She had never told this story to Leo. She had meant to but then for some reason she decided to hold it back. Now she understood that at some point far out in the future there would be a night just like tonight, and she would remember this story and know that no one else in the world knew it had happened except Albie. She had needed to keep something for herself." pp. 322

# data[].attributes.body
1. Do siblings in both families (Cousins and Keating) get along? What about stepsiblings? How do they treat each other?
2. Do you think the divorce of the parents affected the children's personal life? What do you think are the relationships between parents and children like?

# data[].attributes.body
1. How is the topic of using one's own memories within fiction dealt with in "Commonwealth"?
2. Considering Patchett's statement regarding this issue, how is her own position reflected in the novel?
3. What are your own thoughts on how one can incorporate private experiences in fiction?

# data[].attributes.body
"They were sick of their mother, no matter how much they loved her, because she had on occasion cried when they returned to the house after missing the bus." (Chapter 3)

# data[].attributes.body
Caroline had the bigger room with two sets of bunk beds, and Franny, being smaller, had the smaller room with twin beds. The two sisters were connected by neither love nor mutual affinity but by a very small bathroom that could be entered from the bedroom on either side.
(Chapter 3)

# data[].attributes.body
Here was the most remarkable thing about the Keating children and the Cousins children: they did not hate one another, nor did they possess one shred of tribal loyalty. The Cousinses did not prefer the company of Cousinses and the two Keatings could have done without each other entirely. The four girls were angry about being crowded together into a single room but they didn’t blame each other. The boys, who were always angry about everything, didn’t seem to care that they were in the company of so many girls. The six children held in common one overarching principle [...]: they disliked the parents. They hated them. The only one who was troubled by this fact was Franny, because Franny had always loved her mother.

# data[].attributes.body
The four Cousins children didn’t blame Beverly for their miserable summers. They blamed their father, and would have said so to his face had he ever been around. (Chapter 3)

# data[].attributes.body
“We have good children,” Teresa said to Fix. “After all the trouble they gave us they turned out okay.” (Chapter 7)

# data[].attributes.body
Beverly kissed their heads. She kissed Caroline again as Caroline pulled away from her. “I’m so glad you’re home,” she said. But Caroline and Franny were not glad they were home. They were not glad at all. It was in this battered state that the Keating girls returned to Arlington to be reunited with their stepsiblings. Chapter 3)

# data[].attributes.body
More than anything they were sick of Albie, who had spilled his Coke all over the place and was at this very moment kicking the seat in front of him on the plane. Everything that happened was his fault. But they were sick of Cal too. […] They were sick of Holly and the superiority of her good grades. Really, the only person they weren’t sick of was Jeanette, and that was because they never thought about her. (Chapter 3)

# data[].attributes.body
Beverly Cousins wanted her family? Have at it. (Chpater 3)

# data[].attributes.body
“I’m touched to hear you’re thinking about my happiness.” Bert sighed. She was wasting his time. She’d never had any respect for his time. “Everyone else is moving forward except for you. You’re the one who’s determined to stay stuck.” (Chapter 3)

# data[].attributes.body
"So do you and Albie keep in touch?” Franny shrugged. “I hear from him.” Franny had talked about Albie too much in her life, and now, as if she could make up for it, she made a point of not talking about him at all.
(Chapter 2)

# data[].attributes.body
“And what about old Bert? How’s he doing?”- “He seems okay.” - “Do you talk to him very often?” Fix asked, the soul of innocence. - “Not nearly as often as I talk to you.” - “It isn’t a contest.” - “No, it’s not.” (Chpater 2)

# data[].attributes.body
Cal [...] reached into his back pocket and pulled out a tiny plastic bag about the size of three postage stamps where he kept the Benadryl tablets his mother made him carry for his allergy. [...] Albie kept his palm up in silent demand until finally Cal sighed and gave him his two. [...] Jeanette took a hit of the gun and coughed, then she leaned over and gave her pills to Albie. [...] So they left all their cans beside Albie, who was sleeping the sleep of four Benadryls and a big slug of gin in the hot morning sun.
Chapter 3

# data[].attributes.body
Question 1:
- using the memories of others (Leon using the stories of Franny, but Franny also using the stories of her family)
- always a question of perspective (all family members might remember things differently)
- overarching reaction to book and movie is similar
- Albie becomes more apparent when the book is written
- Book and movie also brought the family back together
- Franny only felt unsure about the book only when Albie's perspective came into play

Question 2:
not wanting to sell right to make a movie,
making movie in book is presented negatively,
giving up control when movie is made out of a book,
who owns the past?
Patchett's opinions reflected in different characters in the movie,
did not hide the characters as much,
not everything has to be told/ should be told