Final Response

The ending of this book was pretty much tragic. Alma finally begins to like Joshua, and then she finds out he isn't even technically Jewish. She then can't figure out why on earth she ever hated the man, and begins to really appreciate how well he treats her. Unfortunately, this happens days before his death. Seigl asked Alma to go for a walk in the cemetery, and despite Alma's worry he wanted to ascend a long, steep staircase. When they were about thirty stairs up, he clutched at his chest and seemed to be having trouble, so Alma rushed to him from her place lower on the staircase, where she was struggling. She tried to hold him, but he pushed her off and ended up falling down all the stairs. He ended up dying of the heart attack, and Alma was distraught. She went to the funeral, even though everyone there hated her, and then had to leave early because she was sobbing.

It turned out that Seigl left his estate and a large some of money to Alma, and he wanted her to continue living there and sorting his stuff, and also to go to college and pursue her education. Alma was touched, and she was so happy to know that he had loved her. Dmitri came by to reclaim Alma and get money, but she turned him down. The ending seemed to be really touching and satisfying so far... but it went all downhill from that point.

Alma felt a great loss over Seigl's death, and spent her time thinking about him and loving his memory. Then the police came to the house and questioned her, because there was suspicion that she had assisted Seigl's death, due to the odd situation in which he died. Alma wasn't guilty, but the cops made her uncomfortable because of her past. When they left her, she was pleasantly surprised that they didn't arrest her. She ended up deciding to go to nursing school, and she was really excited and knew Seigl would have been so proud. She was very happy, but then she walked into Seigl's study and was attacked by Jet.

Jet was waiting there with a big German knife, and she stabbed Alma 32 times. This really kind of ruined the ending for me, because as soon as there was a wholesome and somewhat pleasant part of the book, it was gone soon after. Alma was finally having hope for her future, just for it to be ripped away by a psycho character who was barely even in the book. Once again, Jet Seigl went against Joshua's wishes and abrupty tampered with his life, resulting in a negative impact, as usual. Jet said that justice had been done when she killed Alma, but really she ruined Alma's life, who was innocent, and went against her dead brother's wish. The ending was definitely a disappointment to me, because after such a dismal, crude story full of hatred, I was beginning to enjoy the new found optimism and moral justice.