138 pages • 4 hours read
Tara WestoverA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Westover remembers the first time an outsider witnessed Shawn’s abusiveness towards her. During a break from school, Westover invited Charles to Thanksgiving dinner at Buck’s Peak. Before dinner, Shawn poked her hard in the ribs, causing her to drop a plate of rolls. She shouted at him, and he drug her out of the room and shoved her head in the toilet. Westover broke free and ran away, but Shawn drug her back into the house again, breaking her toe in the process. Charles tried to help her, and she laughed loudly the whole time, as if she was trying to convince him that the whole thing was a joke and that Shawn was not really abusing her.
But Charles fled, not even staying for supper. Several hours later, he called her and asked to meet. Westover tried to convince him that he did not see what he thought he saw. Although she loved Charles, maintaining the lie about her life with her family was the most important thing of all. Charles told her that the situation with her family was too much, and “he couldn’t save her” (196), that only she could save herself. Westover had no idea what he was talking about, and the couple breaks up.
Audio Study Guides
View Collection
#CommonReads 2020
View Collection
Family
View Collection
Fathers
View Collection
Goodreads Reading Challenge
View Collection
Inspiring Biographies
View Collection
Memoir
View Collection
Memory
View Collection
Popular Book Club Picks
View Collection
Poverty & Homelessness
View Collection
Religion & Spirituality
View Collection
Trust & Doubt
View Collection