How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
The road was lonely and desolate and all those things that a road is not supposed to be when you are driving down it at five minutes to midnight after leaving your new girlfriend's house and wondering whether or not she really exists or is part of your imagination—some mental coping mechanism that has taken over your thoughts and actions. (11.18)
Things have been so crazy this summer that Cullen has a hard time believing that anything is real. After all, his brother has disappeared without a trace, his cousin has died, and a woodpecker has apparently come back from extinction. That's surreal.
Quote #5
"What's funny?" Mena asked.
"There's a psychic in my house and I'm crying on the porch."
"And?" Lucas said.
"And I'm wondering how much more absurd this can all get." (11.80-83)
The whole situation surrounding Gabriel's death is heartbreaking, but it's also funny in a dark way. And if Cullen can laugh about it, then who can blame him? It's better than crying all the time.
Quote #6
Lucas Cader looked for his lost brother in everyone he met, but in Gabriel and me in particular. Aunt Julia would, from then on, look for Oslo in the people she met. And likewise, I assumed that my mom and dad would always look for Gabriel, both literally and figuratively speaking. (15.107)
Loss changes the way people see the world because they're always going to look for ways to fill the gap in their life with what they miss the most. Cullen can see it changing his parents and aunt even over the course of that summer.