tea for 2

I'm confused.

Last week I was really into the relationship of the two brothers. I guess I should have known the story wouldn't stay focused on them based on the picture on the cover, but reading Chapters 2-5, I feel like we may have veered a little off course.

Adding to my problems is the feeling I now get that I'm in a time traveling machine that is quickly spiraling out of control. Even though the time line jumped around a bit in Chapter 1, I could still follow it. Now I don't know where or when I'm going to be next, and my chronology is all off. Confusion lessens when Craig arrives at Raina's house, but between the end of Chapter 1 and that point in Chapter 3, I'm a little confused.

Where did Phil go? Why doesn't he get to go to church camp too? Did he fall off the end of God's green and rather flat earth?

I understand, however, that the novel is not as disorganized and chaotic as I make it out to be. While events may not be as clearly organized by chronological time, the are not totally unrelated. Instead, events are bound together by time in terms of the season (winter, which connects the flashbacks to Phil and childhood with the high school present), religious themes, and location (the novel can leap from childhood to high school in Chapter 2 because the events take place in the same place- camp).

However, I still somehow feel like I'm reading a different novel. I loved in the first chapter the collision of so many issues- religion, relationships, abuse, etc.- in such an unexpected way. Now I just feel like I'm reading a generic teen love story. The relationship is great, religion begins to be conveniently pushed aside, and the most complicated problem is that people keep trying to get Raina and Craig to eat meat. Oh no!

Here's crossing my fingers for the return of the punch of the first chapter in the remainder of the book.

Sarah