I love this episode, and I thank you for doing such a great job. Two of my kids lived in a very similar situation before they were ours. It’s very easy to forget people are humans and look down on them for their behavior, especially when children are involved.
Books like this and listening to others have helped open my eyes and my heart for my children’s birth parents and others in the same situation. I may not understand or condone their behavior, but I am sympathetic. And I do honestly hope they get the help they need, because they deserve blessedness too.
Fascinating parallel with very different results: both Atticus and Leonie are referred to by their first names, but what is communicated by those choices is so very different. Atticus is a stable, moralizing force for Scout and Jem. Leonie’s name is a rebuke and a reminder of what she has forfeited.
The tension I feel for the children is similar to the fear and dread I felt for the boy in The Road. It’s been incredibly relevant as I’m parenting my kids through difficult issues in a difficult world. How can we have hope when we see ‘nothing but breakers ahead’? (I should know the answer. I’m a believer. But sometimes situations seem more real than faith.)
And a question: Why does the author use metaphors instead of similes?
I was more than half convinced during the whole road trip that Kayla was going to die and that the rest of the novel might be about Leonie having to deal with the guilt of having killed her daughter. I really wasn’t sure she was going to make it. But I’m glad that wasn’t a dark turn the novel took.
I was anxious for Kayla, too! Since I’m in the toddler years right now, I kept thinking about how dehydrated she must have been becoming, and how dangerous that could be!
My youngest is 11 now, so it’s been a while since I had a toddler, but I’ve had five of them and yes I was freaking out about how dehydrated both she and Jojo were.
I kept wanting to crawl into the book and help those children. She picked a perfect age for Kayla. The fact that she is mobile but has limited vocabulary shapes the story and her relationship to her brother so much. It makes me think of how To Kill a Mockingbird would be so different if the ages were different.
I was so anxious through this part of the novel thinking that one or both of the children would die or suffer some very horrific fate! I haven’t finished yet, but it sounds like that doesn’t happen, and for that I’m thankful!
As a white mama of black boys, I think about race more than many. However, I totally missed that it was the white woman that didn’t get the handcuffs. As I read, I thought it was wrong the officer would cuff a child instead of an adult, but dismissed it as a plot twist to raise the tension with Kayla.
It’s a great example of “show not tell.” I appreciate Jessmyn Ward doesn’t provide commentary. And I appreciate CR conversation, because I totally missed the obvious.
It seems like Jojo is going for the talisman from Pop in his pocket and the officer tends to that potential danger quite forcefully. Afterwards the cop says “it was a rock!”
Thanks for pulling me into this book - I don't think I would have been motivated to read it without you and would not have gotten as much out of it without the discussion.
I keep reflecting on the different ways that young girls inadvertently diffused tense, dangerous situations between this book (Kayla's vomit) and To Kill a Mockingbird (Scout trying to make conversation with Mr. Cunningham). These surprising but innocent acts were, in my opinion, both on the knife's edge. I was anxious that they might result in terrible ends for the protagonists; instead they both rapidly led to positive conclusions. Where have unexpected, innocent acts changed the course of my history?
This book and your discussion has been incredible! It’s so hard to put down AND so hard to read.
I had to jump in with a comment about Kayla’s illness. It comes on so suddenly after she had been mouthing the ball that she got from the meth house. I kept thinking that the ball must’ve had traces of drugs/chemicals on it, and that that would be revealed at some point. I haven’t finished the book yet but from the discussion, it doesn’t sound like that is clearly revealed. I do think that the book leaves it as an open question and possible cause of Kayla’s sickness, at least at this point in the novel!
I also thought that the ball was contaminated with something. That little boy was very oozy and very neglected. I wouldn’t be surprised if that ball was covered with a vast array of bacteria.
This is a great point! Whether or not her sickness was directly caused by the meth house, it is interesting that she is fine before they go there and gets sick immediately after. It may be that her sickness is some sort of objective correlative for the presence of the drugs? She doesn’t throw up again after the episode with the police, right? And after that the drugs are gone (or are affecting Leonie).
I love this episode, and I thank you for doing such a great job. Two of my kids lived in a very similar situation before they were ours. It’s very easy to forget people are humans and look down on them for their behavior, especially when children are involved.
Books like this and listening to others have helped open my eyes and my heart for my children’s birth parents and others in the same situation. I may not understand or condone their behavior, but I am sympathetic. And I do honestly hope they get the help they need, because they deserve blessedness too.
Fascinating parallel with very different results: both Atticus and Leonie are referred to by their first names, but what is communicated by those choices is so very different. Atticus is a stable, moralizing force for Scout and Jem. Leonie’s name is a rebuke and a reminder of what she has forfeited.
The tension I feel for the children is similar to the fear and dread I felt for the boy in The Road. It’s been incredibly relevant as I’m parenting my kids through difficult issues in a difficult world. How can we have hope when we see ‘nothing but breakers ahead’? (I should know the answer. I’m a believer. But sometimes situations seem more real than faith.)
And a question: Why does the author use metaphors instead of similes?
I was more than half convinced during the whole road trip that Kayla was going to die and that the rest of the novel might be about Leonie having to deal with the guilt of having killed her daughter. I really wasn’t sure she was going to make it. But I’m glad that wasn’t a dark turn the novel took.
I was anxious for Kayla, too! Since I’m in the toddler years right now, I kept thinking about how dehydrated she must have been becoming, and how dangerous that could be!
My youngest is 11 now, so it’s been a while since I had a toddler, but I’ve had five of them and yes I was freaking out about how dehydrated both she and Jojo were.
I kept wanting to crawl into the book and help those children. She picked a perfect age for Kayla. The fact that she is mobile but has limited vocabulary shapes the story and her relationship to her brother so much. It makes me think of how To Kill a Mockingbird would be so different if the ages were different.
I was so anxious through this part of the novel thinking that one or both of the children would die or suffer some very horrific fate! I haven’t finished yet, but it sounds like that doesn’t happen, and for that I’m thankful!
As a white mama of black boys, I think about race more than many. However, I totally missed that it was the white woman that didn’t get the handcuffs. As I read, I thought it was wrong the officer would cuff a child instead of an adult, but dismissed it as a plot twist to raise the tension with Kayla.
It’s a great example of “show not tell.” I appreciate Jessmyn Ward doesn’t provide commentary. And I appreciate CR conversation, because I totally missed the obvious.
It seems like Jojo is going for the talisman from Pop in his pocket and the officer tends to that potential danger quite forcefully. Afterwards the cop says “it was a rock!”
Thanks for pulling me into this book - I don't think I would have been motivated to read it without you and would not have gotten as much out of it without the discussion.
I keep reflecting on the different ways that young girls inadvertently diffused tense, dangerous situations between this book (Kayla's vomit) and To Kill a Mockingbird (Scout trying to make conversation with Mr. Cunningham). These surprising but innocent acts were, in my opinion, both on the knife's edge. I was anxious that they might result in terrible ends for the protagonists; instead they both rapidly led to positive conclusions. Where have unexpected, innocent acts changed the course of my history?
This book and your discussion has been incredible! It’s so hard to put down AND so hard to read.
I had to jump in with a comment about Kayla’s illness. It comes on so suddenly after she had been mouthing the ball that she got from the meth house. I kept thinking that the ball must’ve had traces of drugs/chemicals on it, and that that would be revealed at some point. I haven’t finished the book yet but from the discussion, it doesn’t sound like that is clearly revealed. I do think that the book leaves it as an open question and possible cause of Kayla’s sickness, at least at this point in the novel!
I also thought that the ball was contaminated with something. That little boy was very oozy and very neglected. I wouldn’t be surprised if that ball was covered with a vast array of bacteria.
Oh, for sure!
Yeah, I had the same thought...it might have been some substance on the ball.
This is a great point! Whether or not her sickness was directly caused by the meth house, it is interesting that she is fine before they go there and gets sick immediately after. It may be that her sickness is some sort of objective correlative for the presence of the drugs? She doesn’t throw up again after the episode with the police, right? And after that the drugs are gone (or are affecting Leonie).
Excellent point!
I had forgotten about the ball—that’s a great notice!