Someone Like You (Pages 230-281)

Summary
It was now May and Scarlett convinced Halley to go to prom. Halley hadn't spoke much to Macon since the night that he went to speak to her in her side yard. She had ended things with him. The night she spoke about prom with her mother the Vaughn's were over which is how she ended up with Noah as her prom date. On prom night Noah was wasted which is why he broke Halley's dress by accident. She went into the bathroom in order to cover it up. Elizabeth and Macon were dating at the time and went to prom together, in the bathroom she told Halley that she could tell Macon still loved her. Interrupting the conversation, Halley was informed that Scarlett was about to give birth. Her water broke and she did not want to take an ambulance, the first vehicle that pulled up was Macon who took them to the hospital. Halley and her mother helped Scarlett through labor in which she gave birth to a baby girl; Grace Halley Thomas.

Quote
"I watched my mother do what she did best, and realized there would never be a way to cut myself from her entirely. No matter how strong or weak I was, she was a part of me, as crucial as my own heart. I would never be strong enough, in all my life, to do without her(Page 275)"

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This quote sums up the roller coaster ride of Halley's relationship with her mother. At first she was best friends with her mother and as she entered high school she felt that her mother didn't understand her which brought them apart. Now going through this experience she realized how important her mother was to her life that her mother would be there for her through any situation to help her get through rough times in life. It made their relationship stronger than it ever was.

Someone Like You (Pages 165-230)

Summary
One day as Halley was at work her mother went and forced her to go out to eat with her after work. She talked to her about her dislike towards her relationship with Macon. Her parents had decided that she was not going to be allowed to see him. When they arrived home her father was on the phone, Halley's grandmother had fallen braking several ribs before anybody found her. Her mom left to assist her grandmother as she was going into hip surgery. Her father was to stay with her, he was always busy so he didn't really track where Halley was throughout the day giving her time to hang out with Macon. One day he dropped her off at home but no one was inside, he asked if he could come inside and attempted to take it to the next level, Halley would not let him so he left. As the days went on it was soon Thanksgiving break in which Halley and her father went to see her grandmother. After leaving her grandmother and coming back home, Halley was always busy helping Scarlett around with doctors appointments and her cravings. On the New Years Eve instead of hanging out with Scarlett she went to a party with Macon where he gave her drinks and a bong to smoke, and attempted to"steal the territory" in his friends bedroom .

Quote
" 'No' I said, and I was crying suddenly, scared in this strange place and I hated him for doing this to me, hated myself, hated my mother and Scarlett for being right, all along.(page 230)"

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Halley made this realization after she knew that she was not ready as Scarlett had told her before she went with Macon to the party. Scarlett told her that she shouldn't do it and get attached to a guy who cannot express his feelings towards her. This was going through her mind as he tried taking their relationship to the next level.

Someone Like You (Pages 110-165)

Summary
Halley got busted for skipping school with Macon and Scarlett. At first when her mom confronted her about it she did not want to tell her why it was but she found out anyways. Scarlett's mom had called her over and told her that Scarlett was pregnant and that she was supposed to be getting an abortion. Once Scarlett got to the clinic she did not want to follow through with it and asked Halley to go get her. Now she was grounded for a month disregarding that her birthday was that week. On her birthday her mom threw her a family party and then at night Macon convinced her to sneak out to take her out to celebrate with him. The next morning she went to school, Halley had gotten her license and was the one driving to school everyday while Scarlett was getting worst mood swings. That day Scarlett and Halley were talking about her pregnancy in the bathroom and someone over heard leading to everyone finding out. As time progressed her mom became more suspicious about her relationship with Macon. She was not allowed to have phone calls after 10:30 and she had to sneak to see him. One night she went out with Macon after telling her mom she was over Scarlett's and her mother knew that she wasn't there.

Quote
"I face my reflection and committed this girl to memory: the girl who belonged with Macon Faulkner, the girl who broke her mother's heart, never looking back. The girl I was (Dessen 161)"

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Halley was now growing up, she was in high school and was beginning to go through the changes a teenager goes through when entering high school. In this quote she realizes how much she has changed and how it has affected her mother. She is not the girl that she use to be who never lied to her parents.

Someone Like You ( pages 57 - 110 )

Summary
In Someone Like you the plot continues to develop as we learn more about Halley. We continue to observe the change in the relationship between Halley and her mother. Also, we continue to observe as her relationship with Macon Faulkner develops and he asks her to meet him at a party. During the weekend in order to go to the party, she tells her mother she is going to hang out over at Scarlett's place. After convincing Scarlett to come with her disregarding her being sick they drove over to the party. There were boys and girls from their school and drinking. Everyone was all over the place but after looking upstairs and downstairs they could not find Macon. She thought Macon stood her up but then learned that this was not the case. That night while Halley and Scarlett hungout on Halley's porch they saw Macon go over and throw rocks at her window in which she then came over to speak with him. He told her that he was there in the attic and thought that she was the one who stood her up. He left and came back around the next day just in time to help her mow the lawn right before being introduced to her parents. Her mother knew that Macon was not only a friend of Halley's. While Halley was at work the next day Scarlett told her to meet her in the restroom as she had some very important news, that she was pregnant. She had sex with Michael the day before he died and had been missing him alot because not only was he the only boy she ever loved but he was also that father of the baby she was expecting. When she told her mother she made the decision that they would take her in for an abortion the next day without any hesitation.

Quote
"I knew I had to keep him to myself, as I'd slowly begun to keep everything. We had secrets now, truths and half-truths, that kept her always at arm's length, behind a closed door, miles away (Deesen 74)"

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Throughout these next pages the relationship between Halley and her mother is emphasized. They are growing farther apart and there is nothing that Halley can do about it. She wants to tell her mother but knows that she can't because she will not understand her teenage way of thinking and she will begin talkin to her in her "therapist voice". Also, if she tells her mother about Macon Faukner then she will over react by asking to speak to parents at the party. Another thing she fears that will happen if she tells her mother her secrets is that she will begin to judge her and her friends such as Scarlett and Macon.

Someone Like You ( Pages 1-57 )

Summary The story took place in Lakeview. Halley and Scarlett have been best friends since childhood, they met when Scarlett moved into a house across the street from Halley. It was during the summer when Halley got an important call from her best friend that caused her to leave Sisterhood camp early. Their friend from school and Scarlett`s ex-boyfriend Michael Alex Sherwood died in an accident on his motorcycle at the young age of 16. He was the only boy Scarlett really loved. Halley`s mom was a therapist, they didn't seem to have a strong relationship. Her mom was the one that went to pick her up from camp in order to come hope and help Scarlett cope with his death. He was all they thought and talked about that summer even when school started. When school first started Halley met Macon Faulkner who she had a crush on while she was waiting for a guidance councilor to assist her in fixing her schedule.

Quote
"My throat was swelling up now, hurting with ache. She didn't understand. She never understood.(Dessen 9)"

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After reading this statement I got a feel of the strength of the relationship between Halley and Scarlett and Halley with her mother. This was what was going through Halley's mind after she told her mother of what occurred. She felt a very strong bond with her best friend and felt that it was necessary for her to help and support Scarlett through these rough times. On the other hand she didn't have that strong bond with her mother because she always felt misunderstood. Even though her mother was a therapist she never felt her mother understood her point of view.

Her Last Death (Pgs 215-273)

Summary

Susy was settled in Montana with her husband Christopher. She is 8 weeks and 2 days pregnant with his child after aborting the first. This experience motivated her to become an abortion councilor at a new clinic reopening to support women and young women who are going through this process so that they wont feel lonely . As she spent more time bonding with her mother, she realized that her mother spent money so easily because her grandmother sent checks to pay for rent and phone bills. During her pregnancy her mother took her shopping for all of the things she wanted for her unborn baby. The Saturday before Thanksgiving Susy went into labor for 57 hours, she had a baby boy and named him Daniel. A short period after she had a second child, Jack. As she went on with her life she realized that she questioned every aspect of her past because she had been lied to so often. The story ends as she reconnects with family in New York; her sister, her father and stepmother.

Quote

"This is what I'll tell my sons, when they ask, when I tell them about our abortion: We made a decision to be better parents, and that was what it took. Nothing yet in our lives had given us to understand the sacrifice of love, the efforts of parenthood, the heart flung open with generosity. The abortion was our preface, the beginning of who you would need and who you would know (Sonnenberg 231)"

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In this quote it is shown that Susy is making well planned out and informative decisions. She is no longer making decisions off of her first instinct or to satisfy her addiction. She has grown as a person because she was able to make beneficial decisions for herself. Some examples of the decisions were to stop her addiction, being faithful to her husband and deciding the right to time to have a child.

Her Last Death (Pgs 165-215)

Summary
Susy shows more charateristics similar to those of her moms as the story develops. She has been with 8 guys so far. She got engaged in New York to Noah, he was always at the club gambling. They had moved together to a 2-bedroom apartment. One morning Susy got a call to let her know about Dr.Crawford's death from cancer a couple of weeks after he had been diagnosed. Soon, Susy and Noah broke the engagement due to their adictions. She got a job at a movie producing development and moved to LA. In a short period of time she got fired and decided to move back to New York and then to Provincetown.
Quote
"Heat rushed up my neck. I should have warned him, and I hadn't, hadn't gotten yet to that part of my life and the way my mother played her role (pg 178)"
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In this part of the plot it was when her mother, Gordon and Susy were at dinner. Gordon had met her for the first time and she was stoned. This quote explains how embarrassed she felt as he was not aware about her addiction and behavior. In a way it shows that now that she is growing up, her mom , her addiction and behavior was a separate part of her life that she didn't really want anyone to know about. She wanted privacy away from her mother and "that life".

Her Last Death (Pgs 110-165)

Summary
In these next chapters of Susanna Sonnenberg's memoir, the relationship between her and her mother developed both in a good way and bad. Susy had moved into her boarding school and she had a crush on her teacher Mr.Crawford. This crush developed into more than was appropriate for a 16 year old girl, it was the first event that she had kept from her mother which started showing the change in how much trust she had in her mother. She eventually told her mother after Mr.Crawford ended up admitting to his wife about the affair. One day when her mother went to visit her while she was at the boarding school her mother took her dormmate to get birthcontrol and later that week told Amy's parents about it. This caused Susy to loose her friendship with Amy. Her father was on a wheel chair, he was diagnosed with MS and was predicted to die and had only about a year to live.
Quote
"I wanted something to happen to her. Something to happen to me. Make her sorry. Make hers cared.(page 132)"
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This quote describes how Susy was feeling which was different from before. Coke was really beginning to change and shape the relationship they had because it would make her mother react differently. While they were in Mexico during Spring break her mom had taken a hit of coke and ended up kicking Susy out of their hotel room which changed the way Susy was thinking.

Her Last Death ( Pages 58 - 110 )

Summary

In Her Last Death, Susy's mom thought that it would be beneficial to her to move to New Mexico after she had her surgery. Susy on the other hand decided to stay with her friend Marly and her parents in order for her to finish up the 7th grade. Soon enough she felt that Marly's parents didn't care about her "thought and feelings" like her mother did so she moved to New Mexico. She had gotten a job at the theatre with Penelope (her sister) because her mom was dating the owner of the theater. In September they returned to New York for Susy to graduate from the eighth grade. Susy was accepted to her second choice of boarding school; Praise Connecticut. She attended there where she had her first kiss and boyfriend who was a senior. She then decided to transfer to a smaller boarding school in Colorado for the following year. While she was in Pennsylvania her mother was in the hospital and had almost died due to septicemia. She spent her 16th birthday at a bar with her mother. After more of the hate is shown because her mother had slept with the drummer from the band that she has a crush on. Her mother's drug addiction and her sleeping with a lot of guys has really gotten between their relationship.

Quote

"My Mother, yeah, she does drugs, but she's not always like that. She's very beautiful. She went out with Clint Eastwood. ( Sonnenberg, 105 )"

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This quote here shows a lot about Susy's opinion about her mother. Although her mother had a lot of bad habits she still looked up to her mother. She had a way of looking at all the negative things in a positive way which showed the narration of the story is told in Dual Narrative voice. This is how she described her mother to Mr. Cutler who was surprised in how much she knew for only being fifteen.

Her Last Death Pages 1-58

Summary
In the exposition of the story the author states that she is at the age of 37 years old after explaining that her mother has falling into a comma. Later just like every other time she learns that it is a lie. She has grown up and apart from her mother. She now has two kids and sometimes wonders whether or not it was a mistake to keep her kids away from their grandmother. At the age of three and a half her parents got a divorce. The years passed and her little sister Penelope grew up, it seemed as if they lived in two different households because they had different experiences. Penelope didn't see when her mother used pills and injection to relieve her pain. She also didn't see when her mother went into spasms due to the large amounts of medication. She seen a different side than Susy, Susy was older and was able to understand that her little sister should not see this side of their mother.
Quote
"'Lying makes face between two people. It makes me stupid, and we can't have a real relationship " ( Sonnenberg 9)
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The story is told by first person and it begins right in the middle of action. It then reflects back to introduce all of the characters and to give some background information. This is a quote said by Susy after she confronts her mother about discovering her lie about having cancer. She expresses through this quote that she cannot attempt in having a good relationship with her mother if she continued lying. It introduces the conflict between the protagonist and her mother.