Section 1 Page by Page Summary and Reaction

1. The boy has been in the bathroom for 15 minutes.
2. His mom has been in that same chair, not getting up, for weeks, spitting up green fluid into a bucket.
3. His mom can talk. The doctors took out her stomach 6 months ago.
4. (Flashback) The removal of the cancerous stomach and how it was done.
5. She has a nosebleed. The cancer prevents the blood from clotting.
6. Describes the family’s house/decorations.
7. There is a fish tank in the fireplace. The fathers says, “Hey, hey!” all the time. Describes more of the living room.
8. The house gets little sun; the family is together for Christmas.
9. They watch American Gladiators with suspense.
10. The mom stays awake all evening. All the fish in the tank are dead.
11. Her nose begins to bleed again, which is dangerous.
12. (Flashback) Father is kneeling. (Present) They are still trying to get the blood to stop.
13. The kids promise never to bring mom back to the hospital.
14. He has visions of killing people. Her nose it still bleeding.
15. The mom is known around the town for her kindness to kids.
16. She is a tough person; he remembers the picture by the T.V.
17. The nosebleed continues once again.
18. Toph, his little brother, is hungry, the bleeding continues and her nose is turning purple.
19. He calls the nurse; she says to put ice on it. He does what she says.
20. (Flashback) Dad is kneeling, now he is spitting up blood.
21. Beth, his sister, comes home from her workout. She says that she has tried to use ice before.
22. (Flashback) Father is telling the kids that their mom is going to die. (Present) Her nose is still bleeding.
23. Toph is still hungry; they debate on taking mom to the hospital.
24. He and his sister talk about whether or not their mom is ready to die and how long it will take.
25. Many things go through his head: who to call if she dies, he says lots of “f” bombs.
26. He is arguing with himself about what he should do with his mom.
27. Beth argues with her mom if they should go to the hospital or not.
28. Everyone starts arguing about whether they should take her in or not.
29. (Flashback) His father is falling. His mom is running to him. (Present) They decide to take mom to the hospital.
30. He gets Toph ready and attempts to carry mom to the car.
31. They finally get her in the car.
32. They are off to the hospital.
33. (Flashback) His father’s funeral. Many guest come to the house.
34. Friends and family come to their home.
35. Les, an old friend of their fathers, tells stories about their dad.
36. (Flashback) Their dad is smoking in the emergency room during his stay there. (Present) They sleep at the hospital with their mom.
37. (Flashback) He and his girlfriend get together.
38. (Flashback) He and his girlfriend are in a closet together. (Present) He and his sister forget that it’s their mom’s birthday.
39. They debate on what to get her for her birthday.
40. Mom has had many bad wigs; she finally has real hair now.
41. (Flashback) His father denies his last rights by the priest. (Present) They promise their mom that they will get her out of there no matter what.
42. He has visions of when/if they sneak their mom out and who will come and what is going to happen.
43. More visions of what will happen to them in the future.
44. Even more visions of the future. His mother stirs in the bed and he says happy birthday. She is still asleep.
45. Toph wakes up, he sits and waits for his mom to wake up.


Reaction

So far in this book, many things have stuck me as "odd." He keeps having these flashbacks in the middle of the page. They usually go back to when he dad was alive. To me these are just something in the book that confuse me even more. Other than that I have reall enjoyed this book so far. He seems to be the kind of person that is very family orrientated. Because of the "jumping around" I can't really predict what will happen next in the book, which to me is a good thing. The language used in this book just tells me how serious he is about what happened in his life. To me it is not distracting but a feature that adds to the book.