Summary

The novel begins with Matty Telemachus recounting the first time he “left his body” while watching his cousin Mary Alice looking at her school yearbook with her friend (3). Matty reminds himself not to have lustful thoughts about Mary Alice even as he hides in a nearby room, spying on her. He thinks about her exposed dark purple bra straps, when “Matty’s back arched as if yanked by a hot wire. An ocean roar filled his ears. Suddenly he was in the air, the studs of the slanted ceiling inches from his face. He shouted, but he had no voice…no body at all” (6). Matty sees himself as if observing from outside of his body, making enough noise that the girls come to discover his hiding place. The girls find Matty buried underneath heaps of dresses and other clothes. Matty, however, pays special attention...