Status Updates From A Garden of Earthly Delight...

I particularly like Clara visiting church part because it feels like it's her first time seeing people emotionally affected by non survival thing by herself.
The school, the creepy vehicle guy, the klan incident are similar I guess. But this one's more "sacred" and she is there alone.

Carleton still has some drive/fighting spirit left from pride, love (Clara) and anger. I am not sure if he is optimistic but he is capable of or still has the energy to imagine ripe tomatoes and see himself working.

Clara feels shame from her family's situation. poor, dirty. She understandably wants improvements.

Anyway, I can see what he is going through as a poor white man. His pride is hurt, he has lost the honor he believes his family used to have. Then the author describes his guilt over murdering his friend. I think the order matters. It's like the most reluctant thing to think about and it's at the bottom of his heart. That's what I felt. And it seems he has lost the last ounce of brightness and vitality.

Carleton reminds me of working class people who voted for Trump in 2016.

It makes sense that Pearl's death is mentioned in like a sentence from Clara's school portion but described in detail from Carlton's portion along with the introduction of Nancy.

The Walpole family feels almost real to me now and I don't want Clara to suffer although her father is not a good man.

Both of you, button them mouths. That's a funny expression lol.

The detailed (high resolution) descriptions of the people, incidents, visuals and psychology make the reading an immersive experience. You can take as much as time you want when reading a book, so it's cool that there are vivid descriptions.

"He didn't try to add up how long he and Pearl had hired out for farmwork, how many seasons. It was like cards in a deck: shuffled together, in no order."

"It was like cards in a deck: shuffled together, in no order."
That's exactly how it feels like when memories or information are all jumbled up in your head. lol. And I feel a sense of futility and fatigue.

HI