How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless, and hot. (Prologue.1)
Why August? What's going on with this metaphor? For one thing, August isn't the only thing that's motionless. For the Tucks, time is motionless, too.
Quote #2
But it was the passage of time that worried them most. They had worked the farm, settled down, made friends. But after ten years, then twenty, they had to face the fact that there was something terribly wrong. None of them was getting any older. (7.15)
The Tucks don't only beat death, they beat time, too. Time is the great game-changer, right? Everything changes over time. Not so for the Tucks.
Quote #3
"When we need things, we go sometimes to one [town], sometimes the next, so people don't come to notice us much. And we sell where we can. But I guess we'll be moving on, one of these days. It's just about time." (10.10)
The Tucks seem to measure time by how long they can stay in one place. Makes that new Swatch we just got seem kind of unnecessary…