“My high-school guidance counselor never mentioned the word ‘college’ in any of our meetings. Maybe she could smell the funk of hopelessness that clung to my second-hand clothing. Maybe she heard that I started working at a dive bar after I turned eighteen. Or—and this is where I’d place my bet—maybe she knew who my mother was and figured that no one can change the sound of an echo.” 

On the first page of the book, Joe suggests how having Kathy as a mother has been a burden and held him back in life. This quote also highlights class issues, suggesting that Joe’s socioeconomic status (seen in his second-hand clothes) was viewed derisively by those in his hometown of Austin. These words lay the groundwork to explain Joe’s drive, his desire to leave behind “Spam Town” and go to college, and to leave behind his familial burdens.

“I never met my father and had no idea if he still stained the Earth. I knew his name though. My mom came up with the brilliant idea of naming me after him in the hope that it might guilt Joe Talbert Senior into staying around awhile, maybe marrying her and supporting her and little Joey Jr. It didn’t work out. She tried the same thing when my younger brother, Jeremy, was born—to the same end. I grew up having to explain that my mother’s name was Kathy Nelson, my name was Joe Talbert, and my brother’s name was Jeremy Naylor.”

This quote speaks to the thematic question of what makes a family. Joe doesn’t share a name with his mother or brother, so it’s not a name. The only person Joe shares a name with is his father, who he’s never met and despises as a “stain” on the Earth. The quote thus affirms the fact that relying on biology to define family is unwise (also seen in Douglas’ blind loyalty to a psychopathic son who kills him).

“That man is a monster.” 

Mary refers to Carl as a monster when she is speaking to Joe. Joe later refers to Carl as a monster. In fact, Carl is not the monster they make him out to be—emphasizing the thematic argument that the truth is complex. People rarely are what they first seem.