How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Three years ago my parents, college sweethearts, were happily married and raising me, their only child. (1.34)
From Mclean's perspective, everything was just fine and dandy with her parents' marriage and their home life. Maybe that's why her mom's betrayal—and the subsequent divorce—was such an awful shock to her.
Quote #2
Instead, her party line was one sentence: "What happens in a marriage is between the two people within it. Your father and I both love you very much. That will never change." (1.38)
Her mom may stick to her party line all the time, but it's not an adequate explanation for Mclean when it comes to figuring out why her mom would leave her family to go off with a basketball coach. Why would she want to start a new life?
Quote #3
Mclean's built all her ideas of romance and marriage by looking at her parents' example; after all, they pretty much have the perfect love story. But when it doesn't last, she's in a state of utter shock. How could they have been any more perfect for each other? When my parents' marriage first imploded, I was in a total state of shock. Maybe it was naïve, but I'd always thought they had the Great American Love Story. She was from a wealthy southern family that bred beauty queens, he the late, only child of an autoworker and the third-grade teacher. (2.3)
Mclean's built all her ideas of romance and marriage by looking at her parents' example; after all, they pretty much have the perfect love story. But when it doesn't last, she's in a state of utter shock. How could they have been any more perfect for each other?
Quote #4
It was always jarring when he called her by her full name. Until they'd married, she was Katie Sweet. Now she was Katherine Hamilton. They sounded like totally different people, not that I was anyone to talk. (5.293)
Not only has the divorce broken up their family, it's also catapulted Mclean's mom into a new role—and a new family. It's hard for her to feel like she still has a place in her mom's life when she has a fancy new husband and a couple of babies now.
Quote #5
Rich, popular girl meets working-class scholarship kid, who steals her heart and whisks her away to the ramshackle charm and chaos of the restaurant world. It was the best kind of love story… until there was an ending to it. (7.4)
Yeah, that sounds like the kind of love story you'd see in a Disney movie, except the scholarship kid and the popular rich girl would live together happily ever after. Too bad real life isn't like a fairy tale.
Quote #6
"She cheated on my dad. With Peter. Left him, got pregnant, got married. It was a mess." (7.129)
Mclean's mom may have thought that cheating, getting pregnant, and marrying someone else only affected her (and Mclean's dad), but that wasn't the case at all. It's obviously messed up Mclean pretty good too.
Quote #7
If I had more time, I thought, but really, it wasn't about that. I just wasn't sure any relationship could work. If the perfect love story turned out not to be, what did that mean for the rest of us? (8.311)
Now that her parents have split up, Mclean's all weird and skeptical about romance. After all, what's the point of getting attached to someone if it's all going to end someday, right?
Quote #8
"I didn't know any different. I think my mom had trouble with it at times. I mean, she loved our place. But she did call herself a 'restaurant widow,'" (10.27)
Maybe the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Sweet wasn't so perfect after all. Mclean's dad may be an awesome father, but that doesn't mean that he was always a great (and present) husband.
Quote #9
"I'll call you as soon as we're back here," my mom continued, digging around in her purse. "I know. Me, too. It's not the same without you. Okay, love you. Goodbye." (14.42)
From the outside, Mclean can observe a little bit of her mom's relationship with her new husband. It might not be what she wants—for her mom to have a new husband and a new family—but it's obviously a good, healthy relationship for her mom.
Quote #10
It had been so long since I'd seen them like this, just the two of them, that for a moment I just stood there, taking it in. He was rubbing a hand over his face, while she had a coffee cup with both hands, her head cocked to the side as she said something. From a distance, you couldn't guess all the history and changes. (16.38)
They may be divorced, but Mclean's parents are still her parents, and they'll come together to take care of their beloved daughter. When she sees them like this—here to parent her together—she knows that not everything has changed.