50 pages • 1 hour read
Highly Illogical Behavior
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Chapters 17-19
Part 2: “Summer—One Month Later”
Chapter 17 Summary: “Solomon Reed”
As the end of the school year approaches and Lisa gets busier with her extracurriculars, Solomon and Clark spend more time together. When Lisa goes to her summer job at Camp Elizabeth for two weeks, Clark works as a lifeguard. Sometimes Clark falls asleep at Solomon’s house, exhausted by the day, but Solomon doesn’t mind. The two boys discuss Clark and Solomon’s uncertain futures, and Solomon reveals that for the first time he doesn’t cry when he thinks about leaving the house. His panic attacks still plague him, even though he’s objectively happy. As it turns out, his anxiety is a far deeper issue than happiness, because “What Solomon had was unforgiving and sneaky and as smart as any other illness. It was like a virus or cancer that would hide just long enough to fool him into thinking it was gone” (148-49). At this point in their friendship, Clark knows his own way of helping Solomon by distracting him with activities.
Clark has a van that needs fixing up, so he, Solomon, and Solomon’s dad start the project together. Clark is over at Solomon’s house every day, and he always has dinner with the family. His parents are thrilled, and one day Solomon realizes that the tight feeling in his chest when he thinks about Clark isn’t the beginning of a panic attack after all. Solomon is “afraid to call it love, what else could it be? It was there. It was real. And if he didn’t watch out, it would eventually find a way to ruin everything” (152). With Lisa gone, Solomon realizes just how complicated his feelings for Clark have become.
Chapter 18 Summary: “Lisa Praytor”
Lisa is at Camp Elizabeth, working with the same cabin as Janis. Even though she wonders how Solomon and Clark are doing, she “was having fun being around some other girls for a change. She hadn’t heard the words Star Trek in seven days and it felt amazing” (154). Even so, things are still tense between her and Janis, and she can tell that Janis hasn’t gotten over the feeling of abandonment. They get into an argument in which Janis accuses Lisa of not wanting to be her friend because Janis doesn’t have enough problems. The argument escalates and Janis accuses Clark of being in love with Solomon. Janis storms off and spreads the rumor around camp that Lisa’s boyfriend is in love with a boy. Lisa tries to shrug it off and show a strong face to the other girls, but “no matter how many times she convinced herself that it couldn’t be true, she still kept coming back around to the possibility that it could” (158). This worry is compounded by the fact that Lisa and Clark never did have sex.
Chapter 19 Summary: “Solomon Reed”
On the phone with Lisa, Solomon seeks her help to calm an anxiety attack. He is comforted by Lisa, by her ability to take charge. He is glad that she’s back from camp because “without her, things were starting to get weird” (159). They talk about Clark’s van, and Lisa asks Solomon if Clark talks about her, good or bad. Solomon is alarmed by the sound of insecurity, but Lisa quickly fixes it by inviting herself and Clark over. They talk about the prospect of the pool and joke about seeing Clark’s abs. Solomon is still worried that he’ll disappoint everyone, but Lisa promises that she and Clark will be there swimming along and supporting him.
Later that day, Lisa and Clark go to Solomon’s house and Lisa almost convinces Solomon to step outside and inspect the pool. Even though Solomon can’t do it in the moment, he tries again that night on his own. Solomon stands at the door, looking at the pool, and discovers that “he didn’t feel anxious or especially loopy […] He was so close to the outside, but he was still standing […] His heartbeat was strong, but not frantic” (164). He steps outside, steps down into the pool empty of water, and falls asleep in the deep end.
Chapters 17-19 Analysis
With Lisa gone for the majority of these chapters, Whaley invites the reader to take a closer look at the comradery between Solomon and Clark. They have more in common with one another than either has with Lisa, but Solomon still relies on her for a stable feeling of control. Symbolically, Clark working as a lifeguard creates a satisfying parallel to Solomon’s innate desire to be in water. He has made the perfect friend in Clark: someone who can save his life if anything goes wrong in the water. Both boys are passionate about the water as a source of freedom and calm—one as a guide through the life-giving element and one drawn to it. Clark and Solomon seem destined to be friends, even though the origin of their friendship is Lisa’s plan to get into college.
Clark also plays a unique role in the Reed family. At dinner, Valerie notices how satisfying it is to have two boys at her table who seem happy and healthy, as if Clark is the vision she had always had about what her own son could be like. The revelation that Solomon is in love with Clark does not necessarily come as a surprise to the reader as Whaley has been dropping hints throughout Part 1. However, Solomon’s admission to himself about his feelings for Clark threaten the trifecta of friendship he’s established with Clark and Lisa, so Whaley foreshadows potential conflict among the friends, which could destroy much of the growth all the characters have undergone.
Meanwhile, Lisa has a similar revelation, prompted by Janis that more could be going on between Clark and Solomon. Lisa has some reason to give in to this suspicion despite her best efforts, because she does have a history with both the boys. Janis has made jokes that Clark is gay before, partly because Lisa has not had sex with Clark despite her efforts. Janis really doesn’t know much about the relationship between Solomon and Clark because she has yet to meet Solomon and she hasn’t been speaking with Lisa. Therefore, Janis’s accusation that Clark is in love with Solomon is an easy jab at Lisa. That Lisa secretly takes it seriously demonstrates her own subconscious anxieties and suspicions. Lisa, in a desperate and meditated attempt to not be like her mother, has worked hard at excelling in all aspects of her life. Lisa is starting to learn that she can’t control Clark’s motivation to do something with his life, and so she may not be able to control how people in her life are feeling. This adds a new layer to Lisa’s characterization, because it has been rare for the reader to see Lisa fee vulnerable and out of control.
Oddly, even though Lisa gives in slightly to this suspicion, she jokes about Clark’s abs with Solomon. Whaley uses this dialogue between the two regarding Clark to invite the reader to wonder how insecure Lisa actually is, or how much is she willing to overlook her own anxieties. Lisa continues to invite Clark with her to visit Solomon, so nothing has actually changed in their behaviors. Lisa promises Solomon that she and Clark will be there for one of the most important moments of his life: getting into the swimming pool. Lisa is still supporting Solomon, which means that the growing relationship between Clark and Solomon either doesn’t worry her or she cares more about the scholarship essay than whether she holds on to her boyfriend or not. To further complicate matters, Solomon realizes how detrimental his feelings for Clark are as he relies on Lisa’s friendship and sense of control. Ironically, Solomon is unable to see just how much Lisa is not in control of in her own life.
Even though it is Lisa’s idea that Solomon should step outside just to get a sense of the pool, it is ultimately Solomon who ventures there for the first time on his own. This is a crucial moment: Solomon finally goes outside and stays there, and he does it all independently. He is so comfortable, in fact, that he falls asleep in the outside air in the pool. This moment is cathartic for the reader. Solomon has made huge strides in a short amount of time, proving that Lisa’s plan may have been the right one all along.
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By John Corey Whaley
