How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
The idea surprised [Lily]. She had never thought of Lonnie in this way—as a little kid whose dad had vanished, yet he'd been almost six at the time, which was surely old enough to feel abandoned […] Could that long-ago desertion even be the reason her brother was so hopeless? (10.3)
Lily's realization that Lonnie's suffered from their father's abandonment is a big turning point for her. While she typically looks only to her own feelings and interests rather than those of others, this moment allows her to look outside of herself and step into her brother's shoes instead of ridiculing him.
Quote #5
"He had this lovely coat his great-aunt had given him for his twenty-first birthday: she'd bought it in Peru. Oh Lily, it had the most beautiful colors, colors I'd never seen before. I was quite young, remember." (13.4)
Lonnie's issues may be mostly due to his father's absence, but this story of how Marigold met her husband makes us wonder if Lonnie might have a bit of the fanciful nature in him that his mom exhibited as a young woman. Falling in love with a man because of his coat might seem superficial to us and to Lily, but it's possible that Lonnie's drawn to new, magical things in the same way his mom once was.
Quote #6
"He was a late child," [Rose] told her daughter. "His mother was forty-five when he was born, and his dad was well into his fifties. They were more like grandparents, really. It was sad. Do you know they actually had him wearing a suit when he was only three?" (18.13)
Ouch. Having been raised to be a serious man, we can definitely see how Charlie's parents shaped him into the humorless workaholic he's grown into. Bummer.