Character Analysis
Samuel is Lindsey's boyfriend. About the time Susie leaves her life, Samuel enters it, bearing half-a-heart pendants, kisses, and unlimited moral support. Samuel is super smart and super athletic like Lindsey. In one of the novel's most romantic moments, when Samuel and Lindsey get engaged in the abandoned Victorian house, we learn that Samuel is important to the building motif we see throughout the novel. When he says he wants to renovate the Victorian house, Lindsey calls him "Samuel Heckler […] fixer of broken things" (17.48). He's integral to the Salmon family's rebuilding process; the life he builds with Lindsey includes a new baby, which Susie views as the ultimate symbol of rebuilding.