1-41

Post A


nixer (37) - nothing (a 'nothing' glance)

rind (23) -outer emotional layer

"She wants a drink.
The house is empty." (2)

Symbolism is shown in this quote, because the emptiness represents the drink.


"The pride takes care of the humiliation every time. Kills it dead as stone." (4)

Personification- 'Killed it dead as stone' is very human.


"She brushes her teeth. The important ones are there. The ones in the front. The missing ones aren't seen, unless she smiles too wide." (11)

I'd like to say that this is a metaphor... basically she relates her teeth to her happiness. If she gets her hopes up, then things might fall away.



Quote: "She can't blame herself for staring to drink. She can, but she won't." (22) This shows the exposition of the story, in that the main character is recovering from alcoholism. She is dealing not only with withdrawl, but with the guilt and the emotions that the drink 'held back' from her.

Theme: The struggle in the story for the main character is alcohol. It's not just the drinking but the emotions that go with it. This woman is trying to catch up with her life, the life that she left behind for the bottle.


Post B


I think since this is the first post, I’ll begin by telling you about the protagonist, Paula Spencer. She is a recovering alcoholic, and a mother. Her children, Jack, Leanne and Nicola are quite different from each other. Nicola is the oldest, has children and is very well off. I think her role in the book is to show extravagance and wealth. Leanne is an alcoholic just like her mother, and is described as “Mad, funny, mad, good, mad, brainy, mad, lovely, and frightening (2). Jack is probably the best that Paula had at the moment, as he is just about 16. On page three, Paula reveals to the reader that she thinks he will break hearts because he has a ruffle-able head, and is a good kid. We hear a bit of dialogue involving Jack, and the reader can make a judgment that he is a relatively nice guy. Paula’s husband died in a previous novel, and we only know so far that she threw him out. Nothing out of the ordinary, in Paula’s mind. She seems bitter, optimistic, and wishful, and to her, the world is relatively small. There is no place to go other than the small market on the side of the road. She isn’t very observant, but we do know that she doesn’t really see things in color. I think that she will undergo a change, however small that will pull her out of her funk sooner or later. Overall, Paula Spencer is teetering on the brink of recovery, but only just.