Summary

The perspective of the novel switches to Brian’s mother narrating her past marriage. She is enjoying her Sunday morning in church. She knows her husband dislikes her attending church because he cannot watch her while she is there. She loves watching Brian sing in the choir because of his talent and enjoyment for the music.

She remembers her own abusive childhood after her father brought her and her mother to Ohio from Georgia. Her parents physically fought on many occasions, “and when I say “fight,” I mean just that…Busted lips and broken teeth. They fought like they wanted to tear each other into pieces…The bottom line is that they just didn’t like each other at all and I had to wonder how they ever got together in the first place” (270). Her mother turned to alcoholism to handle the stress of...