Spectacular Things

“The soccer dream is not over, she writes in the letter she leaves for her parents. I’ve just moved the goalposts.”

Liz’s optimistic outlook helps her maintain a growth mindset. She accepts that she’ll encounter obstacles that force her to adjust her plans, but she doesn’t give up or lose her sense of agency. By imparting this lesson to her daughters and embodying the message in her life choices, Liz helps Mia and Cricket develop the resilience and adaptability necessary for their success.

“To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.”

This motto plays an important role in Cricket’s character arc. It reveals what she values and what motivates her choices. It also shapes Cricket’s sense of identity: Her self-worth is tied to her efforts as an athlete. Cricket’s adoption of the exhortation as a mantra exemplifies What the Pursuit of Greatness Requires.

“Staring at their fingers intertwined, Mia understands the inextricable braid between love and sacrifice.”

Throughout the novel, Mia and Cricket find themselves torn between their own desires and the needs of their family members. More often, Mia makes sacrifices to support Cricket’s dreams and ambitions, though not always. This line offers an early revelation about the novel’s ultimate message regarding Sacrifice as an Act of Love: When chasing dreams or making sacrifices stems from love, they balance out and nothing is truly lost.

“‘And we’re goalkeepers, by the way, not goalies,’ Coach says. ‘Goalies are just children using their hands; goalkeepers are the conductors of the field, and I think you could make one hell of a conductor.’”

Coach’s distinction evokes the pride and sense of identity tied to sport for professional soccer players. The subtext of his comment presents soccer players as a community willing to accept the high physical and psychological demands of elite sports who insist that their efforts and sacrifices not be treated dismissively. This culture is central to Cricket’s characterization.

“The bright sun of this morning has turned anemic, and the thin residue of light that speckles the field threatens to disappear entirely. November in New England is a predictable slow dance with winter.”

Imagery and figurative language build atmosphere. Describing the sun’s light as “anemic” evokes illness and a sense of weariness. The imagery of “thin,” weak light creates a somber, desolate mood, and the potential for it to “disappear entirely” represents the loss of optimism and hope that Liz’s death has occasioned. Alluding to winter elicits cold, symbolizing the emotional numbness and disbelief that the chapter title—“Wake Up”—refers to. A “predictable slow dance with winter” represents the inevitable season of decay and retreat, a metaphor for death.

“Mia adapts, just like she learned to do all those years ago, on the beach with her mother. She straightens her shoulders and turns to face her sister. ‘I live in Victory now,’ she says. ‘You and I are going to stay here until you graduate high school.’”

Resilience and adaptability are important aspects of Mia’s characterization. Rather than directly telling readers that Mia is resilient—a method of character portrayal called authorial interpretation—the author allows Mia’s choices and actions to demonstrate this quality. Mia’s choice here redefines her relationship with Cricket while reinforcing the pattern of Mia making sacrifices to support Cricket’s needs and goals.

“As Mia watches the girl and dog lie nose to nose, the capacity to love strikes her as cruelly beautiful. At birth, each person unwittingly signs a contract to say goodbye to everyone they’re about to meet. Life is merciless in that way, in its promise to end.”

Mia and Cricket’s lives are upended by their mother’s death while they’re still very young. Their experience with grief and loss forces them to confront the impermanence of life and the inherent risk that comes with love. Mia’s work at the animal hospital allows her to witness this paradox from the outside, giving her perspective and contributing to the novel’s portrayal of the balance between joy and heartache.

“A steady, ordinary life can be extraordinary so long as it’s centered around family and community and filled with love.”

Mia’s goals change in the wake of her mother’s passing. Unlike Cricket’s, Mia’s sense of identity and her ideas about what she wants in life evolve quite a bit within the arc of the story. This passage illuminates an epiphany that shapes Mia’s character arc and transformation. She realizes that her prior ambitions were based on who she thought her mother and sister wanted her to be, not who she wanted to be. She learns, however, that love and family—not an Ivy League degree and a prestigious career—are the things that make life spectacular.

“She puts her head down, gives more. Because love always requires more than you think you have.”

Cricket’s soccer ambitions stem from her profound love of the sport. This love makes her willing to sacrifice everything she has to the game. This quotation develops the symbolism of the beep test, which represents the hardships in life that test Cricket’s emotional endurance. The beep test’s symbolism echoes the novel’s broader parallels between soccer and life, which develop ideas about identity, community, loyalty, sacrifice, and love.

“[T]hey’ve learned that the gut punches of grief hit hardest when they least expect them, and the only way to survive the pain and anger is to surrender to it.”

Liz’s death has significant effects on Mia and Cricket. The ways in which they experience and cope with grief contribute to the novel’s thematic look at The Profound Bond Between Mothers, Daughters, and Sisters. This passage embodies the novel’s sympathetic tone toward loss and the act of grieving; it advocates for free and open expression of emotional pain.

“It’s going nowhere because Cricket is going to the championships in November, and college in California, and Mia’s life is in service to her sister. Once again, she will sacrifice her own desire for Cricket’s destiny.”

This passage defines an aspect of Mia and Cricket’s relationship that is both beneficial and problematic. Their willingness to make sacrifices for each other is portrayed as an important part of family relationships. However, when the dynamic becomes entrenched in one direction, it is no longer healthy. Eventually, Mia must learn to recognize when her own needs take precedence over Cricket’s desires.

“There in Cricket’s hotel room, they cannot yet imagine how soccer will unequivocally fill, torment, mend, and mangle both of their hearts.”

The use of emotionally vivid language—the image of “mangled hearts” is visceral and shocking—to create suspense and mood plays into the author’s expressive style. The narrator’s glimpse into the future here also emphasizes the qualities of distance and hindsight within the narrative point of view. Casting ahead to see the role soccer will play in Mia and Cricket’s lives serves to raise the stakes of the current conflicts Cricket faces, making her story more compelling.

“Between sisters, the only thing louder than a screaming match is silence. The only thing more maddening than a fight is the lack thereof.”

Mia and Cricket’s relationship expounds on the complexities of sisterhood. Spectacular Things portrays sisterhood as a unique bond that blends love, jealousy, loyalty, and rivalry, among other things. The novel also reinforces the importance of addressing conflicts with loved ones. For Cricket and Mia, the amount of love and support they provide each other means the stakes of conflict are much higher. Mia’s anger at Liz, years earlier, taught her about the physical and psychological effects of unresolved conflict.

“Love isn’t a decision or a game one willingly plays; it’s a straight-up ambush, and Cricket already knows she’s too late to be saved.”

Part of soccer’s appeal for the Lowe women is that it’s logical and consistent, unlike most of life. This passage uses a metaphor to compare love to soccer in several ways. First, it presents a lesson Cricket must learn: Life isn’t predictable and no amount of visualization, perseverance, and will power will enable her to control her romantic future. Second, Cricket understands love because she truly loves soccer, both of which are forces that she is “too late to be saved” from. Third, falling in love will eventually lead to Cricket having to make an incredibly difficult choice between Yaz and soccer—an “ambush” that exemplifies What the Pursuit of Greatness Requires.

“Mia appreciates how the gradient subtly changes with the sunlight, evolving with the day’s weather. There is a measured acceptance of ambiguity in Gray Owl, a flexibility to let the room transform in its own time.”

Mia and Oliver’s repainting the house to make it a home for the two of them symbolizes moving forward from grief over Liz’s death. Personification attributes the capacity for acceptance and flexibility to a gray paint color, reinforcing its symbolism as an in-between, liminal hue. The “Gray Owl” stands for Mia’s recognition of how she must accept the ambiguity of not knowing exactly what the future will hold and she must allow the grieving process to proceed on its own timeline.

“He has been trying to help Mia live with her grief by speaking often and fondly of Liz.”

The novel takes an inspirational, encouraging tone toward Mia, Cricket, and Oliver’s response to grief. This reinforces the viewpoint that the most effective way to deal with grief is the same as with any conflict: addressing it rather than avoiding it. Oliver is portrayed as having an instinctive knack for knowing the right thing to do or say when it comes to supporting Mia and Cricket’s emotional needs. Feeling free to talk about the mother they love and their feelings of grief is an important part of healing for the Lowe sisters.

“She is coming to understand that love and loss live on the same coin. It’s never heads or tails but joy and agony, grief and delight, spinning in the air, waiting on time and luck to determine not when this chapter ends but how the next one begins.”

This is another strong example of the narrative’s expressive style. Bold words like “joy and agony, grief and delight” emphasize extremes of emotion, connecting readers with the story and characters on a visceral level. The passage also elucidates the relationship between ambition, sacrifice, and love by presenting pairs of opposites that are nevertheless intertwined.

“You are going to make that team because you’re extraordinary, Cricket, and just because it’s been a tough year, it doesn’t make you any less extraordinary. It just means you’ve got to double down and fight, okay? No matter what happens, double down, because you’re extraordinary and you’ve earned the extraordinary life you want.”

Mia’s inspirational words to Cricket, full of love and admiration, illustrate the kind of unconditional love and support the novel suggests can be found in the unique bonds of sisterhood. They embody the message of optimism and perseverance that permeates the story and shapes the sisters’ character arcs. While the titular word “spectacular” doesn’t appear in the narrative, Mia’s description of Cricket as extraordinary helps identify what the title refers to.

“‘Opportunity, Monomyth, Legacy,’ he says, counting them out on his fingers. ‘On the first and last day of the season, I ask my players to reflect on all three.’ ‘What’s a monomyth?’ Cricket asks. ‘A hero’s journey,’ Coach explains, casually balancing a ball on his laces. ‘What adversity have you overcome—or maybe you’re still grappling with—on your quest to become a better player?’”

Coach’s allusion to the monomyth draws a connection to the hero’s journey archetype, thereby emphasizing the universal aspects of Mia and Cricket’s stories. In other words, the novel isn’t just about Cricket playing soccer, but about how her struggles and lessons parallel every human story. Coach’s follow-up questions emphasize the importance and centrality of overcoming adversity in the pursuit of one’s dreams.

“‘You finally need me,’ Cricket says, fresh tears falling. ‘I’ve always needed you.’ ‘Not until you needed a kidney.’ Cricket tries and fails at a smile. ‘No,’ Mia interrupts, slow and deliberate. ‘I needed you—and I still need you—because you’re my sister.’”

Mia and Cricket’s understanding of their personal strengths and their roles in the family shapes their identities. Their transformation involves accepting who they are as individuals, learning to navigate the boundaries of their relationship, and deciding what they owe each other and what they owe to themselves. Cricket has always seen Mia as the strong, self-reliant one who takes care of everybody else. Cricket feels she has little to contribute to her family outside her professional success. The sisters’ reunion in the hospital results from Cricket’s epiphany about what she has to offer and what is most valuable to her.

“A far-reaching coven of living legends are here to support the next generation, and the generation after that.”

The word “generation,” with its connotations of legacy and inheritance, draws a parallel between soccer teammates and family members. Team members from previous eras are like ancestors who offer support, wisdom, and inspiration. The presence of Mia and Cricket’s namesakes, Mia Hamm and Kristine Lilly, is meaningful for several reasons. It reinforces the sense of community that soccer creates for players. It also helps Mia and Cricket feel closer to their mother because the people and things she loved remain. The word “coven” alludes to Cricket’s description of herself as an ambitious witch in Chapter 38.

“They have gathered to celebrate the Beautiful Game, the contest that helped them find their best friends and true selves both within and beyond the sharply drawn lines of the field.”

Spectacular Things portrays soccer as something larger than life in its potential to create joy, community, liberation, love, and identity. This quote emphasizes soccer’s deep significance by referencing and capitalizing its laudatory international nickname. It also reiterates the reasons soccer has been such an important part of Mia and Cricket’s lives as well as the lives of all the women who have been part of the US National Team in eras past and present. This line exemplifies the tone of reverence toward soccer that suffuses the novel.

“Of all people, it had been Mia’s idea to start the ceremony five minutes late as an homage to Liz, and it had been Cricket’s firm insistence that the string quartet play ‘Get Low, Fly High’ when it was her turn to walk down the aisle, a red ribbon tied around her topknot.”

Traditions are an important part of Lowe family identity. Many are tied to their intentional approach to life and success. For example, the polar plunge is both a tradition and a symbolic resetting action, meant to help the Lowe women let go of setbacks and refocus on the future. After Liz’s death, creating family traditions from her memorable habits and traits becomes a way for her daughters to feel connected to her, to acknowledge her influence on their lives, and to show their love for her. Here, a late start, the red ribbon, and the family song are new traditions that to symbolize Liz’s presence at Cricket’s wedding.