The One-In-A-Million Boy

In these chapters, Ona’s house evolves from a private space into a mutual stage for sharing stories, legacies, and memories, and as Quinn becomes more at home in her world, his time with her shows a deeper, more vulnerable side of his personality, highlighting the contrast between his public and private lives. In public, Quinn is a strong and formidable performer, but in private, he is lost in grief and regret. When he reflects on his favorite sculpture at the art museum (a man constructed of wire and filled with heavy stones), this visual metaphor mirrors his heavy, sorrowful emotional state, and it is clear that he is also frozen in place—unable to get up but refusing to fall. This moment illustrates The Lasting Influence of Grief, and as Quinn and Belle agree that their son is their “one in a million boy” (87), this wistful line encapsulates the child’s unique spirit. Notably, both Quinn and Belle grapple with the possibility that their genetics were indirectly the cause of their son’s death, but they also cherish the privilege of having jointly given life to such a unique, intelligent person. They muse, “What he had was us. My body plus your body, and it made him who he was” (90). In this scene, Belle leans into Quinn while she grieves, forgiving his absence as a father, and their moment of gentleness hints at a possible reconciliation that never really materializes.

Within the dominant framework of the characters’ grief and regret, music becomes an increasingly central motif, demonstrating the strengths of Quinn’s character and exploring his reasons for being a distant father. By now, his dream of becoming a famous musician is dwindling, and although he briefly sees an opportunity to join the Christian rock group, their refusal to include him on a permanent basis reinforces his status as an outsider in all aspects of his life. On a more nuanced note, music simultaneously connects Quinn to his son and helps to explain his past distance from the boy. He recalls playing guitar to soothe his son as a baby and how, in that brief moment, his son watched in awe. However, because his son never responded to his music in the same way again, an emotional divide grew between the two, and Quinn failed to mend it as the years went on. Now, music acts as Quinn’s personal form of prayer, and he continues to play the same childhood guitar in the hopes of gaining some relief from his memories and regrets.

As Quinn develops a closer bond with Ona, entering her home casually and even helping himself to her brownies, this relaxed approach foreshadows the even closer bond that the two will develop. As Quinn prepares to leave Ona’s house for the last time, his obligations concluded, the sudden appearance of Ted and the resentful Noah create a sharp contrast. Ona’s sorrow at seeing Quinn about to go suggests that her connection to him has transcended the simple gratitude that might be shown for a charitable act of community service. For this reason, she instinctively draws back from Noah, who is nothing like the boy she grew to love and mourn. Her request that Quinn drive her to see her son shows that she has come to trust the boy’s father as more than just a mere acquaintance. This exchange further explores The Life-Changing Power of Unlikely Friendships.

Finally, the author also introduces new secondary characters to add depth to the novel’s focus on the lasting influence of grief. Amy, Belle’s sister, harbors intense guilt for not spending enough time with the boy and also for giving him the very bike that he was riding when he died. Amy reveals to Quinn that the boy had anxiety and was being treated with antidepressants and antipsychotics; as she announces that she and Belle are pursuing legal action against the doctor who prescribed these medications, Quinn’s surprise over these revelations shows just how uninvolved he really was in his son’s life. However, this scene makes it clear that he, Amy, and Belle all jointly struggle with feelings of guilt in the aftermath of the boy’s death, believing that they could or should have done something differently in order to prevent this tragedy.