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“The good comrade, Marcus’s father, had responded to the divorce with his usual flexibility. No joint custody, no weekend visits—just a laundry list of all the material advantages Marcus would enjoy if he forgot he’d ever had a mother. The Vespa had been the primo goodie on an almost irresistible menu. Stalin had even tried to demand it back when Marcus had opted to stay with Mom.”

This excerpt offers context for Marcus’s past and his relationship with his father. Marcus has nicknamed his dad “Stalin” after Joseph Stalin, former Soviet Premier who consolidated power as a dictator in the interwar era. As seen by Marcus’s description here, his dad has a dictatorial parenting style, and his proposed list of benefits highlights that he cares more about winning custody of Marcus than about Marcus himself. Marcus admits he was tempted by his dad’s list, showing that even good people can make poor choices. This backstory helps to explain Marcus’s relationship with Charlie, who initially feels like a more caring father figure than his own father.

“How was it possible for a man of fifty plus to wipe up the park with a kid less than a third his age? And not just to do it, but to love doing it! Whenever Charlie was making bone-jarring contact, the expression on his face was nothing short of bliss. Like Mozart at the harpsichord or Edison tinkering with some invention—it was something he was just meant to do.”

The observations Marcus makes about Charlie here call to How Legacy Shapes Identity. During his football career, Charlie was known for his tackle, and despite how long he’s been away from the game, he still possesses this ability, showing how playing linebacker is baked into who Charlie is. The latter portion of this quotation complicates the novel’s argument about the violence of football. Rather than viewing the tackles as dangerous, Marcus sees them as the thing Charlie loves, comparing them to music for Mozart or science for Edison. In this way, the actual gameplay of football becomes a type of art, which further cements how much the game means to Marcus and questions whether the violent nature of play is inherently negative.

“A hit used to mean failure and heading back to the drawing board. Now Marcus was starting to anticipate the contact, analyze it, and make split-second adjustments so the collision could be advantageous to him. And once he saw that there could be advantage in it, the fear faded, and he began almost to look forward to it.”

These lines show the practical effect of Marcus’s practice sessions with Charlie. Up until this point, Marcus froze when threatened by a tackle. After practicing with Charlie, though, Marcus has become less afraid of the contact, and his ability to coexist with the fear, rather than being controlled by it, allows him to understand how to use tackling to his advantage. More broadly, these lines show the relationship between practice and skill. Marcus is a fast runner and powerful thrower, but with practice, he can incorporate these skills around tackles, making him a more analytical player and, thus, increasing his skill at the game.

“When you love a team—I mean really love it—your whole life is about two words: if only. If only Kevin could get bigger; if only Luke could get faster; if only Ron could stop fumbling.”

Alyssa explains Troy’s attitude toward Marcus and the football team. After the perfect season Troy led the year before, he feels enormous pressure to deliver for his school and town again. Alyssa is not aware of the additional pressure Troy faces at home with his dad here, but she doesn’t need to be to understand the stress of being the star quarterback with a team that could be better “if only.” These lines also show that, as much as the team practices, there are still factors out of their control.

“That still didn’t explain the shove. Sure, Charlie was a physical guy, but that was no friendly straight-arm. That was a genuine get-out-of-my-face. A few seconds later he was the same old Charlie, but at that moment he’d been a stranger—and not a very pleasant one at that.”

Here, Marcus encounters Charlie on the morning of the sugar prank and is initially shocked that Charlie seems not to recognize him. These lines foreshadow Marcus’s eventual realization that Charlie is unwell. The fact that Marcus doesn’t arrive at CTE here highlights the complex nature of dementia-like diseases. Charlie has presented as coherent enough times that Marcus believes Charlie is functioning fine. Up until this point, Marcus has been able to dismiss Charlie’s strange episodes because they were small and easily glossed over, highlighting The Importance of Direct Experience as a Source of Knowledge.

“Marcus didn’t like the guy, but he couldn’t claim that Troy wasn’t any good. He was efficient, effective, and accurate in his throws. Even more impressive, he projected total control while on the field. It was more than the way he took snaps and made handoffs and threw passes. Something in his body language drew attention like an industrial magnet.”

These lines offer context to Marcus’s relationship with Troy. Though Marcus dislikes Troy, he has to give credit where it’s due, showing that Marcus appreciates anyone who plays football well, even someone like Troy. This excerpt also shows the aptitude for sports Troy inherited from Charlie. While Marcus doesn’t describe Troy as having Charlie’s intensity, it is clear that Troy learned how to be efficient and effective on the field from his dad, illustrating How Legacy Shapes Identity.

“To be utterly incapacitated and, an instant later, totally back to normal seemed almost like magic. Clearly, it had been no big deal to Charlie. He pictured an NFL locker room, with howling players bodychecking the cinder-block walls to autocorrect their various dislocations.”

Prior to this excerpt, Marcus dislocated his shoulder practicing with Charlie and then waited almost an hour for Charlie to get help. Marcus’s thoughts here show him growing closer to figuring out the truth about Charlie because Marcus can’t believe an adult would have left him in his condition. For Marcus, this is an early introduction to Caregiving as a Crucible of Empathy, as Charlie shows a distinct lack of empathy in leaving Marcus injured and in pain. Marcus expects Charlie to take care of him, but more and more often he finds himself taking care of Charlie.

“When the Derrigans returned from their weekend away, they were definitely going to have a few choice words for their son. Or maybe a trashed house was a small price to pay for another perfect season. That was the only thing that seemed to matter in Kennesaw, Gateway to the Gunks.”

Marcus thinks this while he’s at the party at his teammate’s house. As he wanders through the house, Marcus witnesses the other kids causing all manner of destruction while the host casually tries to minimize the damage. The host’s attitude leads Marcus to conclude that a trashed house isn’t a big deal, and Marcus further questions whether the football team’s status is the reason the kids on the team seem to generally get preferential treatment. This highlights the toxic culture of sports in this town and foreshadows how Marcus is rushed back to the game in Chapter 23 to play quarterback, despite being in trouble with the cops.

“But he couldn’t. He couldn’t even explain why he couldn’t. His silence upset her more than anything. They were a team—only child, single mom—cosurvivors of the Stalinist reign. He had always been completely honest with her. Yet now, with his future potentially on the line, he just couldn’t open up.”

Here, the exterminator has pressed charges against Marcus for vandalism. Though Marcus had nothing to do with toilet papering the man’s store, he can’t tell the truth because he won’t betray Charlie or the man’s family. This supports the novel’s characterization of Marcus as fiercely loyal. These lines also show the close-knit relationship Marcus has with his mom—a relationship tested by Marcus’s relationship with Charlie.

“It brought an ironic smile to Marcus’s lips. Himself and Troy, twenty years down the road, laughing over their long-forgotten animosities. Alyssa, now a farmer’s wife, mother of six, former porn star, ambassador to Finland—anything was possible.”

Marcus prepares to pose as Charlie on the college alumni website, and this moment reminds the reader that, despite the weight of his new responsibilities, Marcus is still a teenager. Korman uses this moment to highlight how adulthood feels so far away to Marcus. At this point, Marcus can’t fathom moving past his dislike of Troy to meet up with the guy after reconnecting through an alumni association. For Alyssa, someone Marcus likes, the idea feels less strange, shown by how Marcus pictures a host of possible futures for her. Notably, none of them include him, which foreshadows that Marcus and Alyssa don’t end up together at the end of the book.

“But the nonfootball scuttlebutt was even more tantalizing: He had been arrested and given a court date to face criminal charges (true); he single-handedly fought his way out of Luke Derrigan’s basement the night of the party (false); he rode a motorcycle (half true); he stole Troy Popovich’s girlfriend and then dumped her (twenty-five percent true); the dumping part was just a cover, and he and Alyssa were still secretly seeing each other (totally false, but nice to think about).”

Much of Marcus’s perspective revolves around football, either through the school team or his practice sessions with Charlie. These lines show that there is more to his life than the sport and offer context for how Marcus is navigating life at a new school. The rumors swirling around him highlight the football team’s central place in the culture of this small town. Though Marcus is a newcomer, his position on the team means that he is already the subject of widespread gossip. As he fact-checks each of the stories in his head, he offers indirect characterization of himself by revealing the gap between what he has and what he wants.

“If you just hang out with him for a few minutes, you probably won’t notice anything at all. But over time the weirdness comes out. Like, he considers himself my age, and he also knows he has a wife and kids. I’m not sure how much he understands and how much he’s faking it. There are certain things that make sense to him—football, Three Alarm Park, you. Well, you meaning me. I think he might just bounce around until he sees something he recognizes.”

Marcus says this to McTavish when he explains how Charlie’s CTE manifests, and these lines offer context for The Importance of Direct Experience as a Source of Knowledge. In the short time since Marcus has learned of Charlie’s disease, he has learned a great deal about how the disease works, as seen here. Marcus’s uncertainty about how Charlie thinks shows that he is still learning and that he doesn’t yet comprehend the full severity of the disease. These lines also show how Charlie’s thought processes don’t always make sense. On one hand, Charlie remembers how to play football and that Three Alarm Park is a place to practice. On the other, Three Alarm Park is linked to Charlie’s years playing with McTavish, which directly contrasts Charlie’s current age and family situation.

“Yet standing there in the locker room, Marcus was amazed to feel genuine sympathy. The sack-that-never-was had taken the edge off Troy. It was tough to hate the titan you’d just seen cowering like a helpless child. Minus godhood, Troy wasn’t the enemy. He was just an ordinary jerk—one who deserved a little slack because something pretty damn awful was happening to his father.”

After seeing Troy’s terror on the football field, Marcus develops a new empathy for him. This moment highlights The Importance of Direct Experience as a Source of Knowledge. Marcus knows what is happening to Charlie, but he has not experienced the loss as Troy has. While Marcus can’t understand everything Troy thinks, he can see how Troy’s fear is tied up in football and Charlie’s condition, which allows Marcus to put aside his frustration to see Troy as a person, not the enemy.

“Charlie did remember. He remembered what still made the most sense to him—being young and wild and invincible, taking on the world with his best friend. Those memories were so pure and vivid that he believed he was still living them in the here and now.”

These lines come from Charlie’s perspective and offer a glimpse into the mind of someone with CTE or dementia. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, patients with dementia often remember the past more vividly than the present, which can result in those memories becoming a place of safety in a world that is otherwise difficult to understand. Korman uses this information to create an authentic description of Charlie’s mind, and this excerpt shows Charlie being comfortable in his past. This also highlights the complex nature of dementia, as it often is unclear whether patients are aware of their disease.

“In order to make sure that he’d be able to find Charlie on November 14, it was important to chronicle the man’s routine—if there even was one. Dementia patients were, by definition, erratic. And yet even animals, without the benefit of wristwatches, fell into patterns of behavior that put them in the same place at the same time, day after day, doing the same thing.”

Marcus observes Charlie’s daily pattern and realizes that he must rethink what he understands about human behavior. For someone with a fixed schedule, this task would be simple, but for Charlie, Marcus isn’t sure how much he can count on a pattern, which is why he prepares for the day of the induction ceremony in advance. The final lines of this quotation contextualize Charlie’s behavior by means of an analogy to animals: Like Charlie, many animals follow behavioral patterns that resemble a regular schedule even though they don’t use clocks or calendars.

“Watching them, Marcus was trembling in his boots. What in the world was Charlie going to think of James McTavish? He certainly wasn’t going to recognize this bald, middle-aged accountant as his friend Mac.

But Charlie breezily replied, ‘Yeah, good to see you,’ and got right into the passenger seat of the car.”

Charlie doesn’t recognize his old friend McTavish, but he gets into the car without question, which highlights how CTE makes him more outgoing and less inhibited. Marcus’s failure to anticipate how this encounter will go points to The Importance of Direct Experience as a Source of Knowledge.

“‘Where are you headed?’

Charlie was momentarily unprepared for that question. ‘Home,’ he said finally. ‘In the United States.’

‘That’s exactly where we’re going,’ Marcus assured him. ‘Hop in.’ It was as simple as that. Charlie sat down in the passenger seat, and they were off again.”

Taken in conjunction with the previous quotation, this exchange between Marcus, Charlie, and McTavish again shows how Charlie’s condition lowers his inhibitions while also highlighting the danger Charlie faces. Charlie wound up back in the car with Marcus and McTavish because they were actively looking for him, but had they not been, Charlie could have ended up with anyone and been taken far from anything he knows. For Marcus, this scene is a direct lesson in The Importance of Direct Experience as a Source of Knowledge. Up until now, Marcus has known Charlie’s condition could put him in danger, but after almost losing him, Marcus now understands the critical importance in keeping track of Charlie.

“Marcus marveled at the way Charlie greeted each one with a firm handshake and a hearty ‘Good to see you!’ No one ever would have suspected that this Charlie was anything less than what he appeared to be—a celebrity, the center of attention, the man of the hour.”

In conjunction with the previous two quotations, this scene shows how Charlie can appear completely unaffected by his CTE. Surrounded by a familiar place (his college campus) and a situation he understands (being praised for his football skill), Charlie is able to maintain an outward appearance of coherence. In this moment, while Charlie has people to keep an eye on him, this allows him to have a positive experience with the football game and induction ceremony. Such moments of lucidity can mask the severity of dementia.

“‘The last time I stood on this field, I had a broken nose, and Mary Frances Gilhooley’s underwear was flying from the flagpole,’ Charlie went on. ‘I know because I put it there—me and a friend. What I’m trying to say is, the days I spent right here were some of the best times of my life. And to come back and be honored for it—well, that’s just gravy.’ […] ‘Thanks, everybody,’ Charlie concluded. ‘I’ll never forget this.’”

This is part of Charlie’s speech when he accepts his award at the induction ceremony. In this moment, Charlie is fully himself—aware of where he is, when it is, and why he is there. The reminders of the past have allowed Charlie to be in the present, which hints at how Charlie processes information and understands his world. For Marcus and Charlie’s family watching at home, this speech is also like a goodbye, as it’s the last time they see Charlie lucid and happy. The final portion of this quotation is ironic because Charlie will forget this moment, likely soon after it is over. However, since Charlie remembers the hawk in Chapter 27, which is another memory linked to football, it is possible that part of Charlie will remember the ceremony.

“You know, Marcus, some things are worth the risk. I don’t know if I would have said that yesterday, but I believe it now. It’s more than just the hall of fame. That was the old Charlie back there—the real McCoy. You did that. His own family didn’t know how to do it for him. It wouldn’t have happened without you.”

McTavish confirms that Marcus acted from a place of good intentions in bringing Charlie to the ceremony. This quote offers additional context to The Importance of Direct Experience as a Source of Knowledge. In this case, however, Marcus’s lesser experience with Charlie leads him to understand what Charlie needed in a way his family (who have greater experience) couldn’t. While experience is typically more powerful than knowledge, too much experience here would have kept Charlie’s family from letting him have a meaningful moment, even if the meaning won’t last. The distance of Marcus’s knowledge compared to the closeness of the family’s experience shows that Charlie is more than his illness and, moving forward, allows his family to remember that he’s still a person.

“The Raiders’ defense held firm, and four plays later, Marcus was back under center, armed with another Barker play that he didn’t intend to execute. No football team had anything in the playbook that made a hard-hitting blocker out of the quarterback. But that’s exactly what Marcus was now—taking on much larger opponents, running right over them, and then looking for someone else to flatten.”

Marcus’s thoughts during a football game bring the lessons he’s learned from Charlie full circle. With his new hard-hitting quarterback skillset, Marcus realizes he’s in the unique position of being able to play both quarterback and offense, and this departure from standard football roles means his opponents don’t know how to handle him. Overcoming his fear of tackles has turned Marcus into a player who can think for himself and do what he knows will work, even if it’s not standard. This moment also highlights Charlie’s ability to be a role model and teacher despite his CTE.

“In a small lounge at the end of the hall, three wheelchair-bound ladies sat staring at a television set that exhibited nothing but snow. Their concentration was intense and unwavering.

It was sad, and Charlie must have thought so, too, because he walked over, picked up the remote, and changed the channel for them. ‘Better, right?’

He got no response. No one even blinked. If the viewers noticed that the show they were now watching was any different from the nothing that had preceded it, they gave no indication.”

This excerpt comes while Marcus tours the nursing home with Charlie and his family. This moment highlights the devastating effect dementia can have and offers Charlie a frightening glimpse of his future. The intensity with which the women stare at the television screen is not unlike the intensity Charlie exhibits while playing football, suggesting that Charlie’s passion for the game may be one of the few things holding his identity together.

“‘It’s like he suddenly got old,’ she had told Marcus. ‘Maybe he doesn’t remember the visit, but he senses something’s up. Something sad.’”

Chelsea says this to Marcus following the visit to the nursing home. After learning that his family wants him to live there, Charlie’s demeanor changes, which suggests that, while his short-term memory of the nursing home is forgotten, the emotional experience of the place is not. This highlights The Importance of Direct Experience as a Source of Knowledge. Charlie doesn’t have to remember the nursing home itself to understand what is in store for him as his condition worsens. His behavioral change also suggests that parts of him are still aware of his surroundings and that he processes that information in a way he can comprehend.