Hollow Bones: Ending Explained and Plot Twists (Spoilers)
Let’s take a closer look at the ending of Hollow Bones by Jodi Picoult. There will be major spoilers.
This was a roller coaster ride for sure. As always, Jodi Picoult features plenty of nuance, and most characters’ choices are not easy. There is twist after twist, and then another twist, to keep us guessing.
Time to dive into the ending!
Ending Highlights
First, here is a quick snapshot of the story. Molly always believed her mother died during the 9/11 attacks. The loss of her mother has always been a hole that never could be filled.
But she did have a happy life with her dad, Adam, and her stepmother, Evie, who was also her mother’s best friend.
She rises the ranks really quick to a head position for the Rhode Island Department for Emergency Preparedness. She’s happily married to her husband, Jesse, who is a police polygraph expert.
Molly finds out she’s pregnant and is learning she has to make adjustments. But everything shifts when it’s revealed that her mother Eloise is still alive.
We learn what really happened that fateful morning. On the day of 9/11, Evie accuses Eloise of trying to drown Molly. Eloise eventually runs away from the 9/11 attacks and, thinking Molly would be better off without her, doesn’t return to her life until 25 years later.
Eloise experienced postpartum psychosis and didn’t have the proper help at the time. However, it turns out Evie lied about Eloise trying to harm Molly.
The story ends with Molly and Eloise growing close, and after the lie is revealed, Evie is pushed away. Eloise gets hit by a car but ends up being ok in the end. Molly has a healthy daughter, with another one on the way.
Happy ending for all, although unsure for Evie, though. Adam leaves her, she gets breast cancer, and then moves out of state.
Choices
That Evie twist was shocking for me! To back up, Evie was in love with Adam, but when he met Eloise, he fell for her instantly, and she did as well. Evie was angry, but she ended up mending her relationship with Eloise. She hung around like the third wheel. Honestly, Evie really should have moved on from both of them.
Eloise never shared the extent of her family trauma, including the physical and emotional abuse by her father, who was also sexually abusing her sister, who eventually committed suicide. By trying to shed the trauma, she wasn’t able to address it.
And then after the birth of Molly, she experiences postpartum psychosis, where she has thoughts of harming Molly. Adam fails to see how badly Eloise is truly struggling; he’s somewhat aware but doesn’t try to understand the full picture. Eloise isn’t being entirely forthcoming about her issues, as she feels she needs to deal with them on her own.
Is Evie a Villain?
But Evie sees what is happening with Eloise, and she is worried for Molly and also Eloise. This is why she says she lied about Eloise trying to drown Molly.
After everything is revealed and in their final interaction, Evie says to Eloise:
“I didn’t really have a choice. Not when Adam was useless, and you weren’t in your right mind. I didn’t know what else to do.”
“None of that justified lying to me about trying to drown my own baby,” says Eloise.
“Is it a lie,” Evie asks, “if you so easily believed it was true?”
Yikes!!! Is Evie the villain? I feel kind of like we are supposed to think this: with everyone shunning her, then she gets cancer and moves away? It’s kind of brutal for someone who did actually raise Molly.
I think this is an effort on the author’s part to not blame Eloise for suffering from postpartum psychosis. But I think making Evie an outright villain doesn’t quite land for me, at least.
For instance, while Jesse discovered Evie’s lie and called her out, he did wonder that if Evie hadn’t lied, what would have happened with Eloise? Would she have gotten the help, or would she have been in and out of a psychiatric hospital? How would Molly have been different as a result?
Complicated Dynamics
But of course, Evie’s lie did lay the groundwork for Eloise to run away. Eloise even says she wouldn’t have left if Evie hadn’t told her that. So Eloise missed out on 25 years of her daughter’s life due to this lie.
But at the same time, Eloise does realize she could have potentially harmed Molly when she was experiencing postpartum psychosis. When Molly and Eloise talk about it after everything is revealed, Eloise says to Molly:
“There’s no doubt in my mind Evie has always loved you.”
“Maybe just a little too much,” Molly replies. “To protect me from an imaginary threat.”
“A potential threat,” Eloise says. ” You can’t blame her for what she did.”
“Just the way she chose to do it,” Molly sighs.
So it’s tough. And let’s be honest, Evie clearly envied Eloise’s life and was very happy to step into the role of wife and mother. Perhaps the jealousy did play a small role in her lie, just because she was probably always thinking to herself how she could do better than Eloise. But overall, it seems she was generally concerned that Eloise would harm Molly. And she did step in and raised Molly.
Maybe the villain should be Adam? He is rather clueless. All the traveling when Eloise is clearly struggling and turning a blind eye to that was frustrating. And then pushing Evie away right when Eloise came back is cruel. But I guess Evie did sign up to always be second place.
I just feel like maybe Adam isn’t the prize they both think he is? He definitely got off easy in this!
Car Accident
I want to address the car accident that happens at the end of the story. I actually thought Eloise would die. It was one of those, you get what you wanted after all these years, and then fate has other plans.
But then, surprise, that’s not what happened. I believe the point of that was for Molly to tell Eloise she loves her. For her to truly realize what Eloise means to her.
But did we really need a car accident for that to happen? Just felt a bit like a strange afterthought. In the end though, I’m glad Eloise survived and gets a second chance with Molly and her granddaughters.
I liked Molly and Jesse, and I’m glad their family seems to be moving in a happy direction.
Final Thoughts and What Do You Think?
I did really like this story, and it made me think about so much. It truly did highlight the terror of postpartum psychosis, and I’m sure it will bring the conversation about that condition to the spotlight for a longer period, even more so than with highly publicized court cases.
The twists were shocking, and it does bring plenty of nuance and discussion. What were your thoughts on the twists? Does Evie deserve the villain title? Or should it be Adam?
Be sure to let me know in the comments section below!
About the Author
Adam was 100% the villain.
the dynamics are all so complicated. I think the story downplayed the relationship that would have been built with Molly and Evie over 25 years. Evie lied, like sometimes you have to with a person with mental illness to make them comply with things that are healthy for them (granted this was more than just a white lie). And, she didn’t know that the 9/11 attacks would happen. She didn’t know she’d never get a chance to atone for her lie. 9/11 took something else from their lives that day. They were all in the middle of a conflict that needed an ongoing solution, and 9/11 came and laid the foundation for Eloise to run away. It made me think, how many people who died during those attacks had a conflict they were in the middle of resolving with a loved one? Who else lost someone during the attacks and has regret for the things they didn’t get to say or do, or offer forgiveness, or ask for forgiveness or just say I’m sorry? For me, Evie’s decision to lie symbolizes the fragility of life. She had such good intentions and had no idea how sideways it would go, and the chance never came.
Part of me thinks that Eloise was already getting help so if Evie hadn’t lied to her maybe she could have continued receiving help and would have eventually got the right help. But looking at Lindsay Clancy, it’s hard to tell if she really would have received the help she needed or if she would have been on a rotating cocktail of medications. As much as Eloise says that she wouldn’t have run if Evie didn’t lie, there’s actually no way to verify if that’s true. She can say she thinks she wouldn’t have run, but she can’t say with certainty. There’s absolutely no way of knowing how all the ways life would have unfolded if Evie didn’t lie; add into the mix that she had psychosis at the time I’ll triple down on this. She had a moment of lucidity and made the decision to run but we have no idea how that would have unfolded if Evie didn’t lie because the lie changed the entire trajectory of events. It is rather simplistic for all the characters to not look at the nuance behind this lie.
Evie got the shaft but I think that is a flaw in the writing in this one. I refuse to believe that a stepmother who has loved and raised a child since infancy would be cast aside so easily. I think there was room for redemption for Eloise without Evie having to take the hit.
Adam behaved the way most men would. I also think he’s a character who has beauty privilege. Because he was so good looking he could have the pick of these two women. As a man, he also got the privilege to check out and let Eloise take care of Molly even though she was struggling. Even when Evie told him that Molly tried to drown the baby he still thought it best to take a shower for himself before heading to the appointment. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to take a shower but it highlights the privilege that man has that the woman simply does not. And it also shows that Adam received the worst possible news and still was able to take a nice leisurely shower before heading to the appointment. Which mother (assuming she’s of sound mind) would be able to to do that if she heard her husband tried to drown her baby? But hindsight is 20/20 and they all had to come to terms with how life unfolded for them, partly because of their own decisions and partly because of events outside of their control. Everyone got to have a nice ending but they scapegoated Evie.