“Jack was trying hard not to die. One wrong move and he’d lie splattered on the pavement or fried to a crisp by the sun. He knew the risks, but the roof was the one place he could taste real freedom.”

This dramatic opening introduces the stakes of Jack’s dangerous hobby. Jack and Beth both demonstrate a considerable lack of self-preservation, and our first introduction to Jack shows that his thrill-seeking is a necessary means of finding meaning in his daily life. Jack is constrained out of necessity by his circumstances, but his creative method in dealing with it, while dangerous, foreshadows his fierce independence. This quality is both his greatest strength and chief challenge as a character.

“A sharp pain radiated along the back of his hand. He inspected the bleeding crack, smearing a droplet of blood with his thumb. His skin was getting worse. Dad would know what to do, but by the time he decided to come home…well, anything could have happened.”

At this point in the text, the reader does not know why Dad is gone, why he has expertise about the skin condition, or what prevents him from deciding to come home. This observation creates suspense, and the visual imagery of Jack’s skin raises questions about what happened to him. This quote shows both Jack’s belief and loyalty in his father but also the instability of that relationship. These are both important factors in Jack’s eventual growth as a character as well as the development of the plot.

“It was as if someone had shaken him up like a bottle of fizzy drink and then unscrewed the cap. Words exploded out of his mouth at a force he couldn’t stop—weeks, months of silent worry released in a torrent—all about being allergic to sunlight and wearing the horrible gooey gloop to stop his skin burning.”

The simile of “like a bottle of fizzy drink” creates visual imagery, providing a clear example of the level of excitement and frustration reached by