Summary and Reviews of Suzanne's Diary For Nicholas by James Patterson

Excerpt
Suzanne's Diary For Nicholas

KATIE WILKINSON sat in warm bathwater in the weird but wonderful old-fashioned porcelain tub in her New York apartment. The apartment exuded "old" and "worn" in ways that practitioners of shabby chic couldn't begin to imagine. Katie's Persian cat, Guinevere, looking like a favorite gray wool sweater, was perched on the sink. Her black Labrador, Merlin, sat in the doorway leading to the bedroom. They watched Katie as if they were afraid for her.

She lowered her head when she finished reading the diary and set the leatherbound book on the wooden stool beside the tub. Her body shivered. Then she started to sob, and Katie saw that her hands were shaking. She was losing it, and she didn't lose it often. She was a strong person, and always had been. Katie whispered words she'd once heard in her father's church in Asheboro, North Carolina. "Oh, Lord, oh, Lord, are you anywhere, my Lord?"

She could never have imagined that this small volume would ...

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. In this novel, Matt breaks up with Katie by leaving behind a diary written by his wife Suzanne for their young son, Nicholas. Suzanne pours out her feelings about Matt, Nicholas, about her joys of being a country doctor in Martha's Vineyard, about being a wife and mother, about her love for the Island and for the sea. Matt tells Katie he can't see her anymore, but leaves the diary for her. Was he courageous or cowardly? (We later learn that he doesn't like to talk about sad things.) What is the best way to tell a new partner about a past life? Should he have put Katie through this agony?
   


2. The lasting lesson in Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas is the story of five balls. In it Life is a ...