How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Only this part of her death seemed right. The garden. All the rest of it seemed so wrong, and it has been nearly six months—we have gone through two seasons—without her, and still I don't know what kind of life Ob and I are going to come up with for ourselves. (2.3)
May's death doesn't seem to jive with Ob and Summer's idea of what their life should look like at all. They can't imagine a life with May, and now that she's gone they're going to have to come up with a new model for living.
Quote #2
That's all May ever remembered. The next memory she had was of waking up in that tub six miles from home and pulling a tired old cat from the water she was floating in. Her mommy and daddy were gone, lost forever. (2.36)
May is kind of living in a nightmare when she loses her parents, right? But even though she could have just given up right then and there, she goes on to thrive. Take that, death.
Quote #3
It was a pitiful sight, the three of us in our overcoats and boots, standing among the dead stalks of winter, hoping for a sign of life from the woman who once had kept everything alive on that soil. Including some of us. (5.1)
Geez—Uncle Ob and Summer even have to deal with dead plants in this story. Talk about a depressing landscape to look at when you're already mourning the death of a loved one.
Quote #4
It almost felt like a funeral, like we'd just buried some beloved pet in the cold ground of the garden, and in some ways, it was more comfort, more real, to me than May's true funeral had been. (5.8)
Throughout the story, you get the sense that Summer and Uncle Ob haven't fully come to terms with Aunt May's death. Maybe they just have to find their own ways of grieving, instead of doing what everyone expects of them.
Quote #5
The day after May didn't come to us, Ob didn't get out of bed. He didn't get me up either, and from a bad dream I woke with a start, knowing things were wrong, knowing I had missed something vitally important. (6.4)
Whenever Uncle Ob is a little slow to get out of bed, Summer automatically assumes that he's died. You can't really blame her for this kind of thinking—she's dealt with more death than any kid should.
Quote #6
The bat was so small and lovely, a little animal with wings, and I wanted it to live. But the next morning it was dead, and we buried it in May's garden. (8.7)
Sometimes, even when you really want something to stay alive, it doesn't. That's the lesson that Summer learned in taking care of the bat, and that's the lesson she's learning again with Aunt May's passing.
Quote #7
I looked at Cletus to see if all this talk of illness and deterioration affected him the way it did me. But there was no fear or worry in his face. He looked perfectly serene. I couldn't understand that kind of peace. (8.40)
His parents may be old and ailing, but Cletus's head isn't full of thoughts of deaths and funerals. Instead he's just living his life as he always has. He takes for granted that they'll always be there to take care of him.
Quote #8
Smiling kindly to the imbecile in our company, the chipmunk of a man (that's the animal he favored) said, "She died, son. Last June. She's passed on to the Spirit World." (10.6)
So the woman who was supposed to be the link between the world of the living and the world of the dead is now… dead. What are they supposed to do now? That's like being in a rowboat in the middle of the ocean without a paddle.
Quote #9
But even after his most terrible hours, he decided to stay here on this earth. Right out of the blue, he wanted to live again. And I'd like to think maybe he wanted to live because of me. Because he couldn't bear the thought of saying good-bye to me. (11.6)
Summer may have assumed that Uncle Ob didn't love her enough to stay on earth with her, but that wasn't the case at all. He may miss Aunt May like crazy, but he'll still stick around to make sure that Summer has some family left.
Quote #10
But nothing could keep them back once the owl disappeared from my eyes and I knew as I had never known before that I would never, ever, see May on this earth again. (11.20)
You'd think that this realization would make Summer more depressed than ever, but instead it brings her peace. It's like she's finally accepting the truth of Aunt May's death—and even though it makes her cry hysterically, it also lightens her burdens.