44 pages • 1-hour read
It's Not the End of the World
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Chapters 1-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapters 1 Summary
Karen thinks that she will never get married. Her teacher used to be nicer before she got married. Her parents always fight. Today, her father came home 20 minutes late and got mad that they’d started dinner without him. Karen’s mom insists that he should have called. Bill notices that Amy isn’t eating at the table, which angers Ellie, who thinks that he’s accusing her of starving Amy. He calls Amy into the kitchen and she tells everyone a riddle, which she has been doing frequently since starting first grade. Amy knocks over her milk and worries that her mom will be mad. Ellie angrily throws a sponge and slams the door. Karen remembers how, last week, Bill critiqued the mocha icing on a cake Ellie made, and Ellie smashed the cake at his feet.
After the milk debacle, Bill drives away from the house. Jeff walks out of the kitchen and Amy cries. Karen knows that Jeff has disappeared to his hideaway where he works out and talks to Mary Louise Rumberger on the phone.
Chapter 2 Summary
Karen sits alone at the table playing with her food. She considers cleaning up the table but decides that it wasn’t her who started the fight. Karen picks up Mew, the family cat that loves her best. Mew never scratches Karen or messes up the furniture. She came to the door as a tiny kitten and Karen gave her milk. Karen sits at her desk, which her mom refinished for her. She takes out her Day Book, which her dad gives her every year. Karen writes down that there was a fight today and it was Ellie’s fault. On the day of the cake, the fight was Bill’s fault.
Karen flips through her Day Book. She gives days a grade like a report card and most days receive a C. Her last A+ day was in December. Gary Owens chose Karen for her partner, Mrs. Singer was nice, and it snowed. They went outside and threw snowballs with Bill. Ellie made everyone hot chocolate. She marks today a C- and hopes that tomorrow will be better.
Chapter 3 Summary
Karen introduces her best friend Debbie Bartell. Debbie’s mom wants her to try lots of things, so she has her enrolled in activities every day. Aside from Girl Scouts, Karen doesn’t get to see Debbie much outside of school. Karen wonders if Debbie is interested in her brother Jeff, even though Jeff makes fun of her. Karen suspects that Gary Owens likes Debbie.
At school, Karen realizes that she forgot her milk money. Some teachers will pay for you and let you pay them back, but Mrs. Singer does not offer to help. Debbie remembers how Mrs. Singer used to be smiley and friendly. This year she screamed at Karen once for not opening her math book. Karen is disappointed about forgetting her milk money. It’s not going to be an A+ day.
Chapter 4 Summary
Bill doesn’t come home for dinner, though it’s not unusual for him to be at the modern furniture store on a Friday night. He runs a modern furniture store. None of the furniture in the house comes from the store, though, because Ellie prefers antiques. Karen’s parents usually go out every Saturday night, but by 6:00 pm, Bill has still not returned. Ellie announces that the babysitter, Mrs. Hedley, is not coming tonight. Ellie nearly cries and tells the kids that they can watch whatever they want on TV.
Karen consults Jeff on what’s going on between their parents. Jeff tells her that Bill didn’t come home at all last night and he probably isn’t coming tonight either. Karen wishes that she could find a way to make her parents happy again. She thinks about how things always turn out okay on TV. Karen imagines that if one of them got kidnapped, Bill and Ellie would have to get along. She considers Amy to be Bill’s favorite, Jeff to be the most good-looking, and herself to be perfectly average.
By Sunday, Bill has not returned. Karen worries that he has been in an accident. Neither Bill nor Ellie appear at breakfast. Karen makes pancakes. Ellie eventually comes downstairs with puffy eyes. She says that Bill is busy and Aunt Ruth will come over soon.
Chapter 5 Summary
Aunt Ruth comes over on Sunday morning. Aunt Ruth is 10 years older than Ellie and sometimes behaves more like Ellie’s mother than her sister. While getting ready, Amy wonders if Bill is out getting them a puppy. Karen doesn’t think that’s it. Aunt Ruth and Uncle Dan take Ellie, Karen, Amy, and Jeff out for a drive in the country and lunch. Karen wonders why Bill isn’t coming. She imagines that he’s selling the furniture store and wonders if they will be poor.
Karen feeds Mew before she goes and thinks about how she can do disgusting things like clean a litter box for someone she loves. They ride all the way to the Red Bull Inn where Amy gets carsick and throws up. During lunch, Ellie announces that she and Bill are separating. Amy shouts that Bill has to live at home, and Aunt Ruth shushes her. Jeff asks if they’re getting a divorce, and Ellie says that she doesn’t know. Karen starts to cry and runs out of the restaurant. Aunt Ruth comes out and brings her coat. Aunt Ruth reveals that Bill is at home packing right now. Ellie comes out with an ice cream cone for Karen. Though she doesn’t want it, she licks it anyway. While getting in the car, Jeff knocks over the cone in her lap.
Chapter 6 Summary
Karen worries about the future and wishes that she were dead. Karen claims that she is sick and stays home from school. She stays in bed all day and refuses to eat. Debbie stops by after school to check on Karen. Karen can’t bring herself to tell Debbie about her parents. Debbie offers to get Karen’s homework or make monkey faces to cheer her up, but Karen says no to everything. Karen lashes out at Debbie for asking about Jeff and Debbie storms out. Karen feels worse.
Ellie tells Karen that she has to go to school tomorrow if she wants to go out to dinner with Bill. Karen finally gets out of bed.
Chapter 7 Summary
Karen apologizes to Debbie at the bust stop for lashing out yesterday but still can’t tell her about the separation. Mrs. Singer tells Karen that she hopes she feels better. Karen wonders if Mrs. Singer knows about her parents and that’s why she’s being so nice.
Bill picks the kids up and takes them to Howard Johnson’s for dinner. Karen feels awkward. Amy asks Bill if he misses Ellie, and he says “no.” Jeff asks if they are getting a divorce and Bill says that they are. Karen pushes back, but Bill insists that the divorce is happening because he and Ellie can’t get along. Karen asks more questions, but Bill tells her that he won’t have answers until he works everything out with a lawyer. He shows the kids his motel room and then takes them home. He refuses to come in to carry Amy to bed. Karen writes in her journal that it’s the end of the world.
Chapter 8 Summary
Amy sleeps in Karen’s bed that night. Karen wishes that she had someone to talk to. She decides to tell Debbie on the way to Girl Scouts tomorrow. During class, Mrs. Singer calls Karen out for writing a book report about a book that she clearly didn’t read. Karen gets a D- on her report.
Debbie knows about Karen’s parents already and says that she’s sorry. Karen is upset that she didn’t get to tell Debbie the way she wanted to. Apparently, Aunt Ruth told Debbie’s mom at the grocery store. When Karen tells Debbie that the kids are going to live with Ellie, Debbie asks if Bill is going to fight for custody. Karen feels all mixed up about the idea that Bill doesn’t want them.
Chapters 1-8 Analysis
The opening chapters of the novel introduce Karen's world and the tension, conflict, and uncertainty she faces in her family life. Blume frames the story as a diary narrated from Karen’s point of view, giving the text an intimate tone and allowing her to convey the emotional intensity of witnessing fighting firsthand within the home. Her inner life is detailed, full of emotional highs and lows, love for her cat and her friendships, hatred for her parents, fear, anxiety, and sometimes despair. The first-person format, as opposed to an omniscient narrator, also allows Blume to build narrative tension as the narrative is limited to Karen’s perspective and hence her uncertainties. For example, when Bill doesn’t show up for dinner, Karen can sense that something is wrong, though her parents will not reveal the truth to her yet.
Uncertainty is a common thread throughout these chapters. Karen's desire to make sense of her world and exert control over her life is evident in her Day Book entries, where she grades each day and hopes for a better tomorrow. However, as the chapters progress, it becomes clear that Karen's world is rapidly changing, and she is powerless to stop it. Blume conveys the sense of disorientation and disempowerment that accompanies the breakdown of Karen's family.
Blume introduces Bill and Ellie in the throes of conflict. It is immediately apparent that these are two flawed people capable of interpersonal cruelty as Bill critiques Ellie’s cake and Ellie smashes it on the floor. While Karen sees this as a kind of normalcy, the subtext is that this marriage is reaching a breaking point. Blume also creates subtext when describing Ellie’s preference for antiques over Bill’s modern furniture, hinting at their fundamental incompatibility.
The supporting characters, such as Debbie and Aunt Ruth, help to generate the realism of the text and introduce the theme of Rebuilding Life After Trauma. Debbie's character serves as a connection to the outside world, giving Karen some levity and connection that she lacks at home. Though Karen longs to tell her about the divorce, she isn’t sure how the greater community will take it and fears judgment. Debbie ultimately dramatizes that fear by revealing to Karen that she heard about the divorce already, taking away Karen’s agency even more. Aunt Ruth and Uncle Dan arrive as a kind of support system for Ellie to help her manage the divorce and the household as a newly single mother. The chain of gossip that leads from Aunt Ruth to Debbie’s mom to Debbie creates a narrative anticlimax as a dramatic reveal takes place off the page, reinforcing the sense of verisimilitude that the secondary characters provide.
Despite its focus on a serious and potentially dark subject matter, the novel maintains an accessible tone for its intended audience of pre-teens and young adolescents. Blume uses a straightforward writing style and a realistic portrayal of family dynamics. There is an absence of sensationalism or melodrama which allows the novel to offer insights into quotidian family life.
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