49 pages • 1 hour read
Stacy WillinghamA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussions of prescription drug addiction.
A symbol of her trauma, Chloe Davis’s childhood home serves as the setting for not only Chloe’s happy memories but also her most traumatic. Willingham features Chloe’s home heavily throughout Chloe’s exploration of her past. In the backdrop of her memories and dreams, the home provides the setting for Chloe’s disillusionment and loss of innocence. The woods behind the home represent the murders committed by her own family while the wooden beam in her mother’s closet represents her mother’s suicide attempt and abandonment of Chloe. Each element of the home triggers a painful memory within Chloe that leads her to avoid the home for years. As a result, the home has morphed into “a house that nobody visits, nobody touches. A house that’s considered haunted” (304). The neglected condition of the home symbolizes Chloe’s own internal condition; like the house, Chloe neglects her needs by avoidIng the past and numbing herself with prescription medications and alcohol. She attempts to create a new home for herself but keeps finding herself drawn back by memories of her childhood. No longer able to ignore her past, Chloe drives to Breaux Bridge and faces her fears by arriving at the eerie home in search of Riley.
By Stacy Willingham
Addiction
View Collection
Books on Justice & Injustice
View Collection
Books that Feature the Theme of...
View Collection
Books that Feature the Theme of...
View Collection
Childhood & Youth
View Collection
Fear
View Collection
Grief
View Collection
Guilt
View Collection
Hate & Anger
View Collection
Horror, Thrillers, & Suspense
View Collection
Loyalty & Betrayal
View Collection
Memory
View Collection
Mortality & Death
View Collection
Mystery & Crime
View Collection
Order & Chaos
View Collection
Popular Book Club Picks
View Collection
Pride & Shame
View Collection
Psychological Fiction
View Collection
Revenge
View Collection
Safety & Danger
View Collection
The Best of "Best Book" Lists
View Collection
The Past
View Collection
Trust & Doubt
View Collection
Truth & Lies
View Collection
Valentine's Day Reads: The Theme of Love
View Collection