How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
That night my parents came into my room and talked to me, one at a time. My father talked about his brother and how much he loved him and how he'd promised his parents he'd always take care of him. My mother talked about how much she loved my father for his strength and kind heart, about dreams and reality, and the need to count your blessings. And she made me cry all over again when she kissed me goodnight and whispered that of all her many blessings, I was her best and brightest.
I felt sorry for my father. I felt sorry for my mother. But most of all I felt lucky for me that they were mine. (8.53-54)
There is a lot of love in the Baker family. There's so much love going around, in fact, that it can conquer some pretty powerful struggles. For instance, Mr. and Mrs. Baker choose to care for Juli's Uncle David, but they are happy to make this choice. And even though Juli is sad about some of her family's struggles, she can't help but feel like she's got the best parents in the world.
Quote #8
Dad got us all cones, and once we were sitting down, Dad and David did talk to each other some, but mostly David wanted to eat his chocolate fudge swirl. My father smiled at me from time to time, and I smiled back, but I felt disconnected. How many times had the two of them come here for ice cream? How many birthdays had my father celebrated with his brother like this? How long had he known Mabel and Josie and the rest of the people at Greenhaven? How could it be that in all these years, I'd never spent any time with my uncle? It was like my father had a secret life away from me. A complete family away from me.
I didn't like it. Didn't understand it. (10.82-83)
Juli is seeing a whole new side of her dad's life—she already knew he was a sweet guy, but now she gets to see how great he is with his brother, too. Sadly for Juli, all this niceness has a downside. Now Juli feels like she's been cut out of a part of her dad's life and that makes her angry.
Quote #9
Standing next to Mr. Baker, he looked small. Physically small. And compared to the cut of Mr. Baker's jaw, my dad's face looked kind of weaselly.
This is not the way you want to feel about your father. When I was little, I'd always thought that my dad was right about everything and that there wasn't a man on earth he couldn't take. But standing there looking in, I realized that Mr. Baker could squash him like a bug.
Worse, though, was the way he was acting. Watching my dad chum it up with Juli's dad—it was like seeing him lie. To Mr. Baker, to Juli, to my grandfather—to everybody. Why was he being such a worm? Why couldn't he just act normal? You know, civil? Why did he have to put on such a phony show? This went way beyond keeping the piece with my mother. This was disgusting.
And people said I was the spitting image of my father. How often had I heard that one? I'd never thought about it much, but now it was turning my stomach. (11.33-36)
Poor Bryce is having some heavy realizations about his pops—and his sour feelings toward his dad are even sourer when he compares his father to Mr. Baker. Let's break down these comparisons. Some of them are physical and just about looks, but others are about the way the dads act. What do you think about the fact that Bryce says the phony actions are "worse" than the phony looks? And what does this tell us about how Bryce relates to his dad? One thing is for sure: Bryce isn't going to get over these new feelings about his dad anytime soon.