Not Nothing

Chapters 1 through 8 establish the central setting and initial plot arc, centered on Alex’s placement at Shady Glen retirement home after committing a serious but initially undisclosed act of violence. Alex’s placement in the home introduces the theme of Finding Redemption through Community, as Alex is immediately characterized as someone in serious need of better social support and personal renewal. These early chapters hint at various aspects of Alex’s troubled past: He hasn’t seen his mother in a year, has anger issues, and can’t return to school. He hates the word “opportunity” because a judge used it to shame him, and because it was the same word used when he asked his school for food—a request that ultimately led to him being taken from his mother. The text’s conflict thus becomes clear in these chapters: Alex faces many problems and is unsure how to cope with them. 

Although Alex is defensive and angry, his pain and isolation are just below the surface, with Alex initially struggling to communicate his emotional needs to others. Forman uses subtle details to reflect Alex’s trauma and inner turmoil, such as how he hides food in his pocket when the social worker visits, flinches at headlights he mistakes for police, and is repulsed by the retirement home’s setting. These clues hint at a survivalist mentality shaped by instability and fear. It also becomes clear that Alex is not currently getting the support he needs in his current home environment. He lives with his aunt and uncle, who constantly remind him to be grateful, even though he sleeps on a couch and is clearly unwelcome. His aunt even complains about “how much the boy was costing her” (34-35), reinforcing his sense of being a burden. 

Due to his loneliness, Alex does not yet recognize The Importance of Fighting for Love. At first, Alex’s experiences at Shady Glen only reinforce his cynical tendencies, and his dismissal of the residents as “zombies” and his clashes with Maya-Jade give him another excuse to withdraw from connection. As Josey remarks, Alex uses anger to shield himself from further emotional pain: “That’s the thing about hate. It can sometimes feel like a blanket against the cold, a salve against a wound. When you don’t have love, it can feel like a decent substitute” (37, emphasis added). As Josey suggests here, Alex lashes out at others as a defense mechanism, with his “hate” making him feel strong in a situation in which he mostly feels powerless and unlovable. Alex’s unfavorable circumstances and deep loneliness thus set up the trajectory of his character arc in the novel, as he will eventually develop from being an angry, isolated figure to someone who feels more confident and willing to love and care for others.

The motif of hunger also first appears in this section, introducing the theme of The Impact of Storytelling and Intergenerational Bonds as Alex’s hunger leads him to his first act of intergenerational connection. Alex’s hunger is literal, emotional, and symbolic. He longs for food, stability, and care, as he feels adrift and is neglected both emotionally and physically. When Alex secretly takes a half-eaten lasagna from the garbage, his hunger manifests itself as an explicit, physical need. Significantly, Josey recognizes Alex’s hunger because he himself once knew what it was like to be hungry all the time: This moment reveals both Josey’s quietly observant nature and his deep empathy for others, opening up an opportunity for Alex and Josey to connect and suggesting that the two characters may have more in common than it first appears. 

This bond is foreshadowed by the novel’s opening, and Josey says that his and Alex’s story shows “how both of us learned to rise to the occasion of our lives” (2, emphasis added). Forman creates an emotional and immersive experience through Josey’s narration. Placing Josey as the narrator here also reinforces both the importance of storytelling and the value of intergenerational bonding, as Josey is telling the story and drawing explicit connections between how Alex overcomes his challenges in tandem with how Josey overcomes his. The linking of Josey and Alex’s arcs suggests that even people separated by many decades of age can learn from one another and offer valuable support. Josey also tells the story as if speaking directly to Olka, using second-person narration in Chapter 1 to invite readers in: “Did that get your attention?” (2). In this way, the novel’s narration itself becomes an act of intergenerational storytelling, and Josey offers his wisdom to the presumed audience of middle-grade readers as well as Olka.

These chapters introduce a key symbol as well. The retirement home, Shady Glen, becomes a recurring symbol of decay, loneliness, and eventually, unexpected renewal. At first, it’s a disorienting labyrinth of dim corridors and unfamiliar people. Alex calls the residents “zombies,” but this is more about his fear and lack of understanding than their reality. Likewise, his insistence that the home smells like “death” hides the fact that the home is actually full of life and opportunities for community. As Alex becomes more settled into his routine and bonds with Josey and Maya-Jade, his view of Shady Glen will likewise undergo a significant shift.