How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
It was bad enough that Dad might be dead—that he probably was dead. But it was worse to still feel my anger at him mixed in with the shock and sorrow. (2.13)
Bart's dad left Bart and his mom six months before he died—ouch—and Bart's still angry about the whole abandonment thing. Alas, this only complicates his grief.
Quote #2
We almost didn't have to mention him, because we had this secret that partway protected us from our own grief, and from the river of grief that was flowing all around us, and everywhere, in those days. (2.17)
Bart loses his father in the attacks on September 11. But his sorrow isn't purely private; the American public is grieving, too, everywhere Bart turns.
Quote #3
When people saw us in the street, or in a shop, sometimes even in the mall, I could see them trying to arrange their faces into what they thought was the correct way to express their sympathy. (2.30)
Bart's father's death has turned him into a celebrity of sorts. He's self-conscious about all the attention he receives, though, and finds it hard to grieve when you're in the public eye.
Quote #4
By that point, Mom was not in her most reliable get-out-of-bed-bright-and-early-every-morning mode. In fact, we'd both slipped into a kind of dream state. (3.6)
Bart's mom is really depressed. For a time she has a hard time completing normal daily tasks—like, you know, leaving the house.
Quote #5
"To tell you the truth, I was pretty numb," I said. "It was sort of like I'd gotten a big shot of Novocain. So the interviews weren't all that painful." (3.32)
Bart's grief isn't static, or the same, all the time; instead it comes and goes. And sometimes he simply feels numb.
Quote #6
It was almost as if the reality of everything that had happened to me—Dad leaving us and then dying in that terrible way—was finally creeping in around the edges of things and making me feel unbelievably lonely and abandoned. (4.90)
Bart's grief is complicated by the fact that he feels doubly abandoned. The first abandonment occurred when Bart's father left his family for Caroline, before his actual death. It's a grief layer cake (and no thanks, we would not like a slice).
Quote #7
I'd never have the chance to message him back and ask how he was doing and when he was coming home. And to tell him I loved him, too. (8.13)
Bart's grief is also complicated by the intense guilt he feels for ignoring his father's calls and messages. See? His grief is complicated in so many ways. Poor kid.
Quote #8
Right from the start, I felt close to these people. I wanted to tell them that I knew what it was like, what it was like to be really scared and feel lost and have someone you love die. At the same time, I wanted to get as far away from them as possible. (10.8)
When Bart sees people grieving at the hospital, part of him wants to reach out and share his experience. But another part of him feels repulsed. What do you think that's about?
Quote #9
Our shared sorrow and grief was supposed to make us friends, to bring us closer together, to make us more compassionate, just as Dr. Bratwurst was always saying. (14.8)
Bart often contrasts how people expect him to grieve with how he actually grieves. Real-life grief doesn't always express itself in predictable ways. If you've ever grieved yourself, we're thinking you probably know this to be true, too. Grief works in mysterious ways.