How do you think accepting the money might have changed things for each of the siblings? In what ways would their lives be better, and in what ways, worse?

When Junior puts the check on the table in front of his siblings, he thinks the money can change their lives for the better. "And for the absolute worse." How do you think accepting the money might have changed things for each? In what ways would their lives be better, and in what ways, worse?

It would have paid for Henry's implants, but then Mance would have lost the land and failed in his promise to his dying father. And fortunately, Mance found another way to get the money he needed after all.

The money wouldn't have helped CeCe because even if she paid back the money she stole, Mark could still blackmail her.

Junior and Tokey's issues wouldn't have been solved by money either.

Accepting the money would have had the siblings going their separate ways I believe. They would have lost each other and they really needed each others' strengths. The money might have helped in the short run but not in the long run.

Being a owner of a century farm, (Land in the same family for over 100 years), I can tell you that you would do anything to keep it. You don't want to be the heir that lost the family legacy. The land is the legacy and money will never take the place of that. I now families that lost land that had been in their family for generations. They felt shame and that they were failures.

If they had accepted the money, perhaps they would have all gone their separate ways. They would probably not want to spend their shares to remodel the house or even stay in Diggs. But, the lessons they learned while struggling toward making the decision would likely have led them to lead productive and happy lives. in the end, it was not about the money.

I agree with scgirl's description. This book really resonated with me. My sister and I share waterview property in the Tidewater area of Virginia that our parents purchased in the 60's. We don't see eye to eye on what to do with the property so all the structures including the house just sit there deteriorating. Over the years even discussing it has created long ugly periods of no communication. My father had told me that we should tear the house down (which she doesn't want to do) but keep the property. She has been paying the taxes so we aren't at risk of losing it to the county. I guess eventually we will figure it out one way or the other.

Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy financial freedom, which can remove a lot of stress from people's lives. But I think they would have felt that they sold out by not sticking with the ancestral dedication to the land.

I didn't sense that the siblings were all that close to begin with. I also didn't think they were as tied to the land as they might have been.Did they have a sense of generational history? Did the land mean anything to them? It wasn;t until it was about to be destroyed that they recognized its worth.

Mance could pay whatever medical expenses were needed for Henry. Cece could repay the money she embezzled. The siblings would have gone in separate directions. This would have been devastating for Tokey who was hanging on to family connections by her fingernails. Junior would have felt the guilt of losing his family home.

As noted by other readers there are different things each of the siblings could have done with the money and perhaps made their lives better in some ways. By not accepting the money they became committed to each other in new and powerful ways-and in ways money can't buy.

I think the money would have solved a lot of short-term problems for at least two of the siblings - maybe all four - but it wouldn't have led to the healing the family needed.

I think if they had accepted the money, they would all have continued to live their separate lives instead of coming together as a family. Accepting the money might have solved their immediate problems, but it wouldn't have made their life better.

Accepting the money would not have solved all of their problems. In time the money is gone. Keeping the land has lasting benefits and helps the family unit. With no land who knows where each family member would have evolved.