Small trees had attacked my parents’ house at the foundation.
-- Joe (Chapter 1 paragraph 1)

Importance: This quote not only sets the scene for the first part of the novel, but it sets the tone as well. The foundation in this case is both literally the house’s foundation and figuratively the basic foundation of the family.

Much later, after I had gone into law and gone back and examined every document I could find, every statement, relived every moment of that day and the days that followed, I understood that this was when my father had learned from Dr. Egge the details and extent of my mother’s injuries.
-- Joe (Chapter 1 paragraph 89)

Importance: This quote establishes for the reader that the narration is by an older Joe who is looking back on this particular summer with more knowledge than he had as a child. This not only explains the style in which the novel is written, but it also...