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The Third Wife


A riveting family drama with a dark mystery at its core.
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Do you think Maya's death was accidental or suicide?

Created: 06/21/15

Replies: 14

Posted Jun. 21, 2015 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
davinamw

Join Date: 10/15/10

Posts: 3442

Do you think Maya's death was accidental or suicide?

Do you think Maya's death was accidental or suicide?


Posted Jun. 22, 2015 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
juliaa

Join Date: 12/03/11

Posts: 280

RE: Do you think Maya's death was accidental or suicide?

One of the beauties of the novel is that we don't actually know. We know that Jane/Abby thinks it was an accident and that Adrian wants desperately to believe it was an accident. Personally, I think it was suicide, but I like the ambiguity. Readers can come down on either side of the question, and book clubs will probably be debating for years.


Posted Jun. 22, 2015 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
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Miznanner

Join Date: 01/19/13

Posts: 20

RE: Do you think Maya's death was accidental or suicide?

I agree- and to me that is one of the best parts of the novel. The reader doesn't know and for me, it colored what happens next with the family and finally then it became interesting--- the family seems to close ranks again with no real consequences. What happens to Cat? To Luke? To all of them? How do they move on knowing that it is quite possible their actions contributed to Maya's death? All of those questions that lingered saved the book for me.


Posted Jun. 22, 2015 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
wendyf

Join Date: 05/11/11

Posts: 84

RE: Do you think Maya's death was accidental or suicide?

Yes I also liked the ambiguity. I felt that it was an accident but probably one due to being so caught up in her issues that she wasn't truly in the moment. That opinion changed at different times while reading however.


Posted Jun. 22, 2015 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
alisonf

Join Date: 01/31/13

Posts: 110

RE: Do you think Maya's death was accidental or suicide?

We aren't supposed to know. That is the power of the novel and does not give us more incite than the family has.


Posted Jun. 22, 2015 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Navy Mom

Join Date: 04/12/12

Posts: 294

RE: Do you think Maya's death was accidental or suicide?

I think Maya had reached "her lowest point" and felt as if she had no where to turn when she went out and drank so much. I thought she decided to leave Adrian but the irony was that she was so drunk by then that she never got to do it, because she accidentally got struck by the bus. Maya became Adrian's ultimate betrayal because of his indifference to how another person feels. Maya was the symbol of all the anguish of all the family members.


Posted Jun. 22, 2015 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
dlpiano

Join Date: 08/14/11

Posts: 27

RE: Do you think Maya's death was accidental or suicide?

I think that her death was accidental, but I do believe because of her anguish from the emails and relationship definitely pushed her to act in a manner that night that was unlike her usual self.


Posted Jun. 25, 2015 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
lilliantpr

Join Date: 01/23/12

Posts: 42

RE: Do you think Maya's death was accidental or suicide?

This is the best part of the book. The author lets the reader decide the outcome of Maya´s fate. Personally I believed that she did not commit suicide. I did have to go back and reread that first chapter though. She was not that type of person. I do think that she would have moved on, left Adrian and moved with her friend Sara. It´s not like she was really in love with Adrian. She was feeling like a monster for having done so much damage to Adrian´s kids and believing his happy story of ¨don´t worry, they will all love you, we will be a happy family as always¨. I just think that she was ¨wasted¨ and had a lot of things floating in her mind and when she took that last step forward, she lurched herself as the bus driver described to the DI.


Posted Jun. 25, 2015 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
dona

Join Date: 06/03/14

Posts: 17

RE: Do you think Maya's death was accidental or suicide?

I think Mia's death was accidental but indirectly caused by the tension and sorrow experienced in her life with Adrian and the hatred expressed in the emails. One of the more interesting parts of the plot is the ambiguity about the cause of Mia's death.


Posted Jun. 30, 2015 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
dorinned

Join Date: 10/13/14

Posts: 176

RE: Do you think Maya's death was accidental or suicide?

We will never know whether it was an accident or suicide. My thinking is that it was an accident. Maya was drunk and despondent, stepped off the curb without looking, and was hit by the vehicle that killed her.


Posted Jun. 30, 2015 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
judyw

Join Date: 06/13/11

Posts: 76

RE: Do you think Maya's death was accidental or suicide?

There is the mystery and ambiguity of Maya's death as evidenced in the first page of this novel. I think her death was an accident--she didn't intend to step in front of the bus. Her drinking and it's consequences were out of character for Maya. By that evening she had made decisions regarding the continuation of her marriage. Because of her abnormal behavior that evening, Maya wasn't able to enact her decision; thus, the unknown reason for her death.


Posted Jul. 02, 2015 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
candaceb

Join Date: 03/30/14

Posts: 59

RE: Do you think Maya's death was accidental or suicide?

I thought it was a suicide but one that was impulsive due to the alcohol, not something planned out. I like that it was left unclear so that the reader had to decide.


Posted Jul. 04, 2015 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Peggy H

Join Date: 06/13/11

Posts: 272

RE: Do you think Maya's death was accidental or suicide?

I agree that her death was probably accidental but probably as a result of all that had gone before. I'm
Inked that it was left up to us the readers, to decide for ourselves.


Posted Jul. 06, 2015 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
CheriFaith

Join Date: 10/06/14

Posts: 37

RE: Do you think Maya's death was accidental or suicide?

I agree with most who have answered before me - that plot point was one of the best in the book. If I had to say, I'd be a total fence-straddle girl and say it was an accidental suicide!!! I think she had the desire to go but not the internal force to commit the act. I'm really sorry she was gone - I liked her best of all the characters in the book - and I hate it when my favorite goes, even if they have to!!!


Posted Jul. 09, 2015 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
joang

Join Date: 05/17/12

Posts: 101

RE: Do you think Maya's death was accidental or suicide?

Have to agree also. I feel as if it was an accident. Although she had made her decision to leave Adrian and move on...she was not a very strong person nor a very secure person. Her infatuation with Adrian when she first met him, her relationship with Luke, her inability to deal with Caroline and her "hiding" the e-mails.
The ambiguity of her death is a strong point and drives the book. It forces self reflection on the part of all the other characters...and of course some guilt on their part in the event.


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