Character Analysis
Dianna Sweetwine, Noah and Jude's mom, spends most of the book in her grave: when her kids were 14, she was in a car accident that killed her on impact. In life, she was vibrant, well liked, and well loved. But just before her death, her relationship with her kids became a bit rocky.
In truth, we don't know much about Dianna. Her past is mysterious. We know that she was a "foundling"—that is, a foster child. "I know so little about her life before all of us," Jude says. "[She] was shuttled from one unhappy foster situation to another.…She always promised she was going to tell me everything when I was a little bit older." (6.10) We know for sure that she was impulsive, agreeing to marry her future husband after knowing him for just three days.
Dianna was a lot more adventurous than many people are in middle age, especially her husband. ("She wore capes! Went skydiving on her fortieth birthday!" says Jude. [6.8]) She had a flair for the dramatic, telling stories at the dinner table like she was starring in a movie. "This is why she gets the professor of the year award so much—everyone always wants to be in her movie with her," Noah observes. (1.65)
Over time, she falls out of love with her husband—we see them bicker viciously in the very first scene—and finds solace with another man, Guillermo Garcia. It is perhaps guilt over her secret affair that leads Dianna to be so critical of Jude's short skirts and heavy makeup. Mother and daughter frequently clash, which, needless to say, causes a lot of strain for them both.
On top of that, there's no doubt Dianna becomes withdrawn from her family in the time leading up to her accident. "She sits lobotomized at red lights long after they turn green and doesn't hit the gas until everyone starts honking at her," Noah says. (3.544) Which makes her death in a car not the biggest surprise, to say the least.
In one way, she was gone before she was really gone gone. But in another way, it seems as though she had found herself. With Guillermo, she had started painting again. "She was good," Noah says upon seeing her work. (8.212) Yes, she was.