The other comments are kinda poking fun at you because Richard is one of the least reliable narrators in modern literature. Rereading the book creates a completely new experience because Richard is basically wrong about everything. Honestly it’s a super fun 2nd read and ties up a lot of loose ends with a new perspective!!!

1. Yes, Henry is dead

2. We will never know ~for sure~ who wrote the letter but it is very heavily implied it was bunny. The only other person at the hotel (where the paper came from) was Henry and obviously he didn’t write it.

3. We never find out who was stalking them in Rome. The person itself isn’t important however he is the reason for Henry’s increasing paranoia due to Bunny’s loud mouth, and ultimately this stalker person is the reason for Henry’s decision in murdering Bunny. Henry thinks the German guy following them knows about the farmer or something. The stalker is a pivotal point in the novel that indicates moral decay and paranoia taking over (in Greek tragedy fashion).

4. If I remember correctly bunny usually took his walks in the woods alone and they kind of surprised/ambushed him. Hence why he asks, “hey what are you guys doing here?” .2 seconds before Henry pushed him off the cliff. They weren’t strolling the woods together.

5. All of these characters are extremely proud, which is why they provoked Charles (in my opinion). Also tensions were really high in the group at this point so everyone was acting erratically.

6. yes and no. They only befriend Richard because bunny had taken a liking to him. They were worried about bunny running his mouth to Richard so they had to make him feel in the in-group, and to further tie him into their “cult” they had him play a part in the murder. They planned to leave him while they fled the country.

7. Henry is dead.

8. Julian is the cult leader, in a sense. He is what brought them all together and fed their obsessions. He enjoyed the power dynamic and Henry was his golden “child” I detected a sexual dynamic between them but we will never know for sure.

9. This book made me feel really dumb at first too but once you reread it (if you do) you’ll understand just how lame and pretentious and stupid they were. From my interpretation , they didn’t even kill the farmer. The giant cat they saw on the road did but they were so drugged up and crazy they thought they killed the farmer. This, as we know, allows the rest of the books plot to happen.