Reading in the Dark: Conclusions

Ok, Ive been sitting on this blog entry for a while because I wrote it and then forgot about it while I started working on my paper so I may be a bit late, but Ill post it anyways.

There's a few things that have been on my mind since I finished Reading in the Dark and this is the perfect place to hash them out.

1) Who the crap is Crazy Joe and why does he happen to know all of the family's secrets?! Maybe I overlooked something of just forgot about his significance to the family, but he doesn't seem to be of any importance to them at all. One thing did catch my eye though, on page 224 the narrator says he knows it all and his mother's last secret was with Joe. I think thats suggesting that he knows even more, but for a second there I thought it meant that they had been hooking up before Joe lost his marbles. A few other questions I have about Joe is why is creeping on our main character? Maybe it's something old people do, but the "vigorous knee rubbing" and the sliding in & out of his teeth made me sick to my stomach.

2) All the secrets & drama....*shakes head* while I was reading it sounded like the perfect story for to be taken to the big screen (which is interesting since we heard about this being made into a movie in class the other day).

There's a passage in the book where Sergeant Burke tells the mother that "People were better not knowing somrme things, especially the younger people, for all that bother dragged on them all their lives and what was the point?" Burke couldn't be more right in saying that given what the main character has gone through just because he knew all the secrets. It put him at odds with his parents and in wanting to tell them he knew everything was nearly eaten alive by the knowledge.

[Side note: we've briefly discussed the themes and ideas presented in these novels having connections to each our individual lives and this one has a thick chapter in the book of my life. Wanting to know what the grown ups were whispering about or finding out through other sources hasn't done anything but drag me down as a result.]