Summary

The summer of 1962 marks the first summer John and Owen spend apart as Owen works for his father and John works in his uncle’s lumberyard. John’s cousins fix him up with a number of local girls but John fails to lose his virginity. Meanwhile, Owen and Hester live in her apartment, a fact that distresses Aunt Martha a greatly. John finds spending time with Owen and Hester depressing as Owen continues to be fatalistic about his own death (he hopes to be shipped to Vietnam when he finishes ROTC) and Hester’s rage lacks purpose and direction. She eventually becomes an anti-war protester.

1987 and John is vacationing with his friend. He enjoys spending time with her family but cannot break his addiction to newspapers or control his rage over the Reagan administration. He describes his early attempts of fitting in when he first arrived...