Finished! 3 down, 1 to go. I'm not sure I fully understood everything that happened in the end, but hopefully some of the pieces will click soon.

So. There was one scene that really tied in to the whole "family relations" thing that a lot of groups were talking about yesterday:

"What moved *me* to feel sorry for Orin was that it seemed pretty obvious that that had nothing to do with what Himself was trying to talk about. It was the most open I'd ever heard of Himself being with anybody, and it seemed terribly sad to me, somehow, that he'd wasted it on Orin. I'd never once had a conversation nearly that open or intimate with Himself" (956).

(This is in regards to Orin's and Himself's discussion about porn, by the way). This was basically the reiteration of what my group talked about yesterday (in the scene with the wraith) about how Himself basically thought Hal mute, and so they never had a real conversation. This passage made me feel really sad for Hal; if you're jealous of your brother and feel like a conversation was "wasted" on him, there is clearly something wrong.

This whole family (especially Avril, like we discussed yesterday) prides itself on being all open and able to confide in one another, but in truth, they're the exact opposite. They are all closed in on themselves and can't communicate well at all. I feel like these problems must have something to do with the breakdown of Hal/the family in general . . .