I thought the most interesting and richly painted character was Elliot, Ethan's teenage brother, as he was the one who felt the most capable of feeling the full tragedy of what happened to Ethan, and thus capable of depth and personal growth. (And the whole thing with their bedroom was just weird, man.) And in that same vein, I felt both of them never really got out from under the wings of Ethan's parents - which in Ethan's case is definitely understandable, but it seemed that instead of Carter taking over the responsibilities that come with living with a brain damaged man, he slid under the parents' wing and started being sheltered as well. The author tried to put them through some sort of trial, I suppose to show that they'd be able to handle it together, but in the end - to me - it felt that if Ethan's parents hadn't stepped in, the two of them would have failed that trial. To me the book failed to really explore the more difficult aspects of such a relationship, and the characters remained a little underdeveloped in that sense - or maybe my problem was that both of them remained a little immature. But by the end of the story I just wasn't convinced that it could work out. Kind of conflicted here, because I liked the book and Ethan and Carter were sweet and lovely, together and on their own with their different issues, and I kind of feel bad for giving them a mediocre rating.
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