How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
That summer my brother, Bernardo, or "Nardo," as we call him, flipped through more jobs than a thumb through a deck of cards. (1.1)
Right off the bat, we know this book is going to deal with some interesting family relations. Manny may be telling us his story, but from the very first line he's focused on his big brother, Nardo. In fact, we don't even learn Manny's name until the middle of a story about Nardo's favorite job. With all this focus on his brother, we're set up for a story where family is seriously central.
Quote #2
Mom just kept watching TV. I guess she figured she could scold him for starving us, scold him about the unpaid rent or the job somewhere in the world waiting for him to try harder, but she was tired of all that. She knew if she cluttered his ears with too much griping, it would only thicken his stubbornness. (2.58)
Get ready for the understatement of the year: Manny's parents don't always get along. So keep an eye out during the rest of the book for how Mom and Dad's fights go down, and whether they're ever able to resolve them. But even with all this fighting, it is also super clear that Mom knows Dad super well, and that means that while she can fight with the best of them, she also knows how to keep her hubby at bay by laying off the fights for a little while.
Quote #3
From the corner of his eye, he caught the dark clump of Mom running, and ran after her. When she disappeared behind a tree, he froze, shifting his knees, the barrel of the rifle alert and ready. For an instant I caught a glimpse of her tiptoeing away from a tree. Dad saw her too and banged on the bolt arm. She started with a jolt and began running again, ducking and dodging from tree to tree as Dad, frustrated with the loader because it wouldn't eat the bullet, and not wanting her to escape, pretended to lock a bullet in the chamber and level aim. (4.43)
Okay, this just might be about the worst scene you want to witness between your parents. Ever. And based on this, there's not much love lost between Mr. and Mrs. Hernandez. When Dad tries to shoot Mom, you could say things have gone from bad to worse, and it looks like Dad isn't holding anything back—even when his bullets won't load, he still keeps pressing forward, trying to at least scare his wife. Yikes.
Quote #4
But Mom wasn't listening. She seemed to still be hearing something in the air. Then her face became more alert, and she turned to the officer leading Dad out of the door. "Take him," she said, softly at first, then with decided anger. "Go ahead, take him!" (4.81)
It's a rollercoaster relationship between Mom and Dad. Here's the situation: We know Mom's majorly scared when Dad tries to shoot her, but then she goes and hides the rifle like she's trying to protect Dad. And then, to top it all off, she tells the officers to "take him" in an angry tone. All her twists and turns have us wondering how Mom really feels about Dad these days. Do you think she's angry at the cops for taking her hubby away? It she angry at Dad? Maybe she just wants to keep her family together…
Quote #5
Deep down I hoped Mom would wise up and leave Dad for good, or maybe go live with Grandma for a while, or run off on her own, if that's what she wanted. Either that, or that Dad would finally open his eyes to see how close it was to being his last chance. But none of what I wished was going to happen. (5.1)
Manny isn't feeling too optimistic about his family life. He knows that there are some solid paths forward that would make everyone happier and safer, but he figures these are all just pipe dreams. And that's a huge bummer. What do you think makes Manny such a cynic about his family life? And do you think he's proven right by the end of the book?
Quote #6
In my family, we're taught to touch the hand of the one who has died. So at the wake, when my mother called, I walked toward the casket, and in the full bloom of my family's eyes, I touched Grandma's hand. A lump of salt caught in my throat, closing like a fist, as I studied the bark skin of her face—each crack sealed with perfect makeup.
She will flake into dirt, I thought, just as the sun does the bottom of a pond during a drought. Her shadow will be erased, and her soul will drift to heaven like the fluff of a dandelion in the wind. And then it will blossom in another garden, so bright the colors will hurt your eyes. That's how I imagined it. For Grandma, that's how I wanted it to be. (5.67-68)
Finally we get a touching moment between Manny and a family member. Now we'll admit that this isn't an entirely awesome moment—after all, Grandma has died and the idea of Manny with a "lump of salt" in his throat tells us just how hard he's taking the news—but with all the rough times surrounding Manny's family these days, tender ones like this are seriously huge. Plus, there's also some major love going on here. Just take a look at the happy visions Manny has for his Grandma.
Quote #7
Usually, though, I had fun teasing her into tantrums, but only when Mom or Magda were around to quiet down her hysterics. Besides, at that moment, seeing her face empty of any trust in me didn't make me feel good about bothering her. (6.39)
Manny has complicated relationships with his siblings. Here, when Magda leaves him to babysit Pedi on his own, Manny gets super frustrated with his littlest sister. And with no one else around to fix things for him, he feels kind of terrible about bugging her in the first place.
Quote #8
"I'm not ruining my life, Mom! You keep saying I'm going to ruin my life."
Mom shook her head like she wasn't listening. She'd gathered up her own thoughts, and would use them to do the figuring. "Your father and I ran off together when I was sixteen. You were already big in my belly." For a moment she looked to put her hand on Magda's shoulder, but held back, rubbing her arms. "Don't make the same mistake I did, that's all I have to say." (6.85-86)
Mom and Magda are both stubborn ladies, so when you put them into the ring together, it's no surprise that they both throw some punches. And we have to admit that it sort of seems like the fighting will never stop. Did you notice that Mom and Magda just can't see eye to eye? These two don't seem to be listening to each other at all—in fact, it's almost like they're having two separate conversations.
Quote #9
In the bathroom, Dad put Magda, nightgown and all, inside the tub and bobbed her steady. […] She looked up at us staring down at her, and then, with a surprise that showed the fever had died, she looked at Dad, amazed. I don't know if it was because of the pain in his back, or the pain of seeing Magda sick, or both, but his face was trembling and red, as if blown by a hot, blurry wind. (8.65)
This is a super tender moment between Magda and Dad. When Magda prematurely delivers a baby and goes to the hospital, everyone hides it from big bad Dad, figuring he'll be angry as can be when he learns what happens. Based on his track record, we can't blame them. But when it comes to caring for his daughter in a crisis, Dad puts all his other thoughts aside, and saves the day. For more on Dad, be sure to check out the "Characters" section.
Quote #10
I helped him with his route on Saturdays, when the weather was either snips or cold snagging fishhooks through your clothes, or just plain icy, with steam flowing from every breath. Nardo would keep the engine running while I bolted for the cash, or Medi-Cal card, whichever arrangement those old retired geezers had with the pharmacy. Afterward, we'd go to lunch in Chinatown and order hot plates of chow mein noodles and sweet-and-sour pork. (9.1)
Nardo and Manny haven't had the worst relationship ever throughout this book, but they haven't been super close either, and often, Nardo just isn't around. But check out how well these two work as a team. This seems like a huge improvement from their chili-picking or garden-cleaning days when Nardo was normally complaining most of the time. Now, they're a dynamic duo who work hard and play hard together. Yay.