A Long Way from Chicago is billed as "a novel in stories," and each of these stories is about a different year in Joey's and Mary Alice's lives. So, as the novel progresses, the reader gets to see the passage of time year over year and how the kids grow up and start to see their quirky Grandma Dowdel in a different way.
When they're just little kids, they spend their time jumping rope and putting together puzzles…but by the end, they're helping Grandma Dowdel carry out all sorts of (probably illegal) schemes. They go from kids to full-fledged teenagers in no time—Joey is even taking driving lessons.
Questions About Time
- Why are the kids so surprised that their Grandma Dowdel used to receive valentines?
- How do the kids change over time and their subsequent visits to their grandmother's house?
- Why is the book framed with Joey looking back on his childhood now that he's an old man?
Chew on This
The reason that the book opens up so far in the future is because only the older Joey can have full insights into his Grandma Dowdel, instead of just a kid's point of view.
Each chapter in A Long Way from Chicago takes place in a different year so that the reader gets the full breadth of the kids' experiences with Grandma Dowdel and can understand how Joey and Mary Alice's perception of their grandmother shifts over time.