Do ‘The White Lotus’ Characters’ Book Choices Hint at Their Fates? Theories About the Reading Material

Victoria Ratliff

Parker Posey has nailed her character, Victoria Ratliff, this season. (“Piper! Noooooo!”) Victoria has been undeniably uncomfortable with her daughter Piper’s (Sarah Catherine Hook) decision to stay in Thailand for a year. To be fair, she also seems like someone who would be uncomfortable anywhere outside the confines of her country club with a glass of wine and her precious Lorazepam.

During her vacation, Victoria was spotted holding F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Beautiful and the Damned. It’s described as “a bleaker version of the corrosive power of wealth and its privileges.” Victoria’s husband, Timothy Ratliff (Jason Isaacs), learned that his crimes have finally caught up with him and he’s about to lose everything the family has. She previously pointed out that at her age she’s not “meant to live an uncomfortable life.”

With the family fortune on the chopping block, Victoria’s book choice could hint at suicide after learning that “uncomfortable life” she mentioned might be imminent.

Jaclyn Lemon

Michelle Monaghan’s role as TV star Jaclyn Lemon’s book choice, Barbra Streisand’s memoir My Name Is Barbra, is comically large. It’s close to a thousand pages and not really what one would consider a “beach read.” However, Michelle loved the idea of her character lugging around the giant tome to soak up the sun.

“I just loved what it said about her, what she thought it was going to say about her, that she’s reading a Barbra Streisand book,” Michelle told TODAY.com.

Fans, however, think that the fact that Jaclyn chose a book that’s so clearly not a beach read was an effort to invoke the Streisand Effect.

“The Streisand effect is an unintended consequence of attempts to hide, remove, or censor information, where the effort instead increases public awareness of the information. Yep, sounds right,” a Redditor wrote in The White Lotus subreddit.

Belinda Lindsey

Fans were heartbroken for Belinda Lindsey (Natasha Rothwell) after seeing her dreams of owning her own massage therapy business get crushed in The White Lotus season 2. Now, she’s in Thailand and her reading material is a bit on the nose.

Belinda’s reading the self-help book Surrounded by Narcissists by Thomas Erikson, which makes sense considering the type of guests the hotel caters to as clients.

Chelsea

Aimee Lee Wood’s character Chelsea has spent the majority of her time in The White Lotus season 3 worrying about her boyfriend, Rick (Walton Goggins). Chelsea thinks Rick is her “soulmate” and puts a lot of stock in astrology.

She’s seen reading The Essential Rumi, a book of poems that reflect on love and spiritualism by the 13th century poet. The topics track with Chelsea’s personality, but more notably, Rumi predicted his own death, something Chelsea also mentioned in passing after getting bitten by the snake. Chelsea also pointed out that bad things “come in threes” and she’s had two near death experiences, which hints that she might be so lucky the third time.

Lochlan Ratliff

Lochlan Ratliff, played by Sam Nivola, was chastised by his older brother, Saxon Ratliff (Patrick Schwarzenegger), for reading while the family vacations in Thailand. Lochlan’s book of choice? Hunger by Knut Hamsun.

Goodreads describes the book as a “powerful, autobiographical novel recounting the abject poverty, hunger and despair of a young writer struggling to achieve self-discovery and its ultimate artistic expression.”

Lochlan has certainly experienced a bit of self-discovery during his time in Thailand. As for what the literature could be hinting at for Lochlan, one Redditor wrote, “Lochy is willing to turn a blind eye and even implicitly support his brother’s sexual deviancy, especially when it offers social benefits like potentially getting laid.”