Some critics have noted that one of Peck's greatest strengths as a writer is his ability to create diverse yet believable and credible characters. In the three-year span of Remembering the Good Times, Peck shows this strength and is able to develop his characters and to plant the subtle clues of Trav's depression and eventual suicide. Buck, the teller of the story, is a male character with deep feelings and emotions. Although Buck and his down-to-earth Dad live a fairly spartan existence in the trailer, he seems to cope very well with all the problems that confront teen-age boys. In comparison, while Trav seems to have all the advantages that affluent, successful parents can give their child, he feels an intense pressure to succeed and seems unable to accept any faults within himself.

Through Buck's eyes, the reader sees Trav from the outside with...