“You can’t rewrite history, or leave bits of it out just because it suits you.”

Sam relies on his Tony Hawk poster and the advice that Tony gives in his autobiography to work through his problems. Many of the lessons and words of wisdom that Tony provides are not directly related to what he says; instead, Sam has to sleuth through Tony’s replies to make sense of them. One of the first things that Sam learns through this process is that he cannot change what has already happened, which becomes an unshakeable fact after he finds out that Alicia is pregnant. A few seconds can change everything, and there may be no way to reverse it.

“TH…he wasn’t me. But he was who I wanted to be, so that makes him the best version of myself, and that can’t be a bad thing, to have the best version of yourself standing there on a bedroom wall and watching you. It makes you feel as if you mustn’t let yourself down.”

Tony Hawk is a symbol of the type of person Sam aspires to be, and of Sam’s own isolation in his adolescence as he struggles to relate with people around him. Having the poster on his wall motivates Sam to improve himself both in his skating and in his life, and it allows him to talk through things with himself from a more comfortable position.

“Listen: I know you don’t want to hear about every single little moment. You don’t want to know about what time we arranged to meet, or any of that stuff. All I’m trying to say is it was really special, that day, and I can remember just about every second of it.”

Sam often addresses the reader and refers directly to the narrative as it unfolds. In his attempts to create what he views as a typical and smoothly flowing story, he leaves out the irrelevant details that are not necessary to form a complete understanding of the plot and of Sam’s own conflicts and experiences.