63 pages • 2 hours read
Jodi Picoult, Jennifer Finney BoylanA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
“[W]hen I held Asher, […] I was relieved. Better to have a boy, who would never be someone’s victim.”
Olivia recounts the relief she felt at learning that she had a son. This quote serves multiple functions. It points to Olivia’s experience as a victim of domestic abuse at a man’s hands. It works as a red herring, suggesting Asher’s involvement in Lily’s death—that she may have been the victim of his rage. In addition, it outlines the irony in how Lily was victimized at a point in her life when others saw her a boy, just as she was victimized after beginning to live her life as a girl.
“There are some trajectories you cannot change, no matter what you do.”
Olivia reflects on this in the context of the bear attack, as she acknowledges that the attacked colony will most likely not survive the winter, despite her best efforts at repatriating them. The bear attack and the fate of the bees becomes symbolic of the fate of Olivia’s family; thus, this reflection holds true for her and Asher after the trial too. Despite Asher’s eventual acquittal, life cannot and does not return to what it was before the trial.
“From the moment my parents knew they were having a baby, my father wanted me to be a boy. Instead, he got a daughter: boyish in some ways, I guess, but not in the ways that would have mattered to him. […] I’d disappointed him, not because of anything I’d done, but simply because of who I was.”
Lily reflects on how, all her life, she disappointed her father just for being who she was. At first glance, this statement seems to mirror and invert Olivia’s reflection on her relief at having a son.
By these authors
A Spark of Light
Jodi Picoult
Between the Lines
Jodi Picoult, Samantha van Leer
By Any Other Name
Jodi Picoult
Handle With Care
Jodi Picoult
House Rules
Jodi Picoult
Leaving Time
Jodi Picoult
Mercy
Jodi Picoult
My Sister's Keeper
Jodi Picoult
Nineteen Minutes
Jodi Picoult
Plain Truth
Jodi Picoult
Salem Falls
Jodi Picoult
She's Not There
Jennifer Finney Boylan
Small Great Things
Jodi Picoult
The Book of Two Ways
Jodi Picoult
The Pact
Jodi Picoult
The Storyteller
Jodi Picoult
The Tenth Circle
Jodi Picoult
Vanishing Acts
Jodi Picoult
Wish You Were Here
Jodi Picoult
Books on Justice & Injustice
View Collection
Contemporary Books on Social Justice
View Collection
Family
View Collection
Horror, Thrillers, & Suspense
View Collection
LGBTQ Literature
View Collection
Mystery & Crime
View Collection
National Suicide Prevention Month
View Collection
New York Times Best Sellers
View Collection
Popular Book Club Picks
View Collection
Romance
View Collection
Safety & Danger
View Collection
Sexual Harassment & Violence
View Collection
Trust & Doubt
View Collection
Truth & Lies
View Collection
YA Horror, Thrillers, & Suspense
View Collection
YA & Middle-Grade Books on Bullying
View Collection
YA Mystery & Crime
View Collection