Robby Anderson’s Reviews > Montana 1948[MONTANA 1948][Paperback] > Status Update

Uncle Frank's suicide is a dark event that shows how bad actions and secrets can destroy a person. After being accused of rape and murder, Uncle Frank takes his own life, unable to face the things that have happened throughout the book, and now he is probably realizing he should not have done what he had done. This act leaves his family with many questions and a lot of sadness.

I think throughout the book, David has matured a huge amount since the last time I wrote about him because the topics that David keeps listening to are getting more confusing and more about rape, and now murder is a crazy topic for a 12 year old to listen to. I think David, when he is older, will have a dark life knowing everything he has listened to at a young age, and it might haunt him the rest of his life.

David and his family are not worried about Frank being locked in the basement because it is a crazy circumstance they would never have believed could happen. Wesley, the sheriff, is arresting his own brother for rape and just locking him in the basement, careless about his actions. After all, they have completely caught Uncle Frank with rape and (murder, they suspect), so this is a very interesting part in the book.

Marie's death significantly affects David because she was a kind and familiar presence in his life. He knew her and liked her, so her sudden illness and death are shocking and unsettling. In the book, it says Marie dies from sickness, but I believe that she dies from poisoning from Uncle Frank's medicine that he prescribed. This is a huge turning point in the book because most of the conflicts have been about Marie.

I was very intrigued by the author talking about how Gloria and Frank cared for David. Usually, in my mind, David is a mature child because the experiences he goes through involve adult conflict, but I often forget he is still a child who needs to rely on his family for support. I think the author wrote this way to show the challenges David goes through, where he has to show strength and courage even as a child.

From my perspective, the narrator David and Marie have a very good relationship. I think that because Marie is sick, she needs someone to help and take care of her, so David and the parents and a doctor help her out. This shows that David is a great person and will be a very important character going into the rest of the book. I think this is great because the father doesn't like indians he is still helping out.

David thinks his dad's work as the sheriff is not hard. David thinks he has an easy way of living. for example, "All of which made my dad's job a relatively easy one." Although he thinks his dad's job is easy he believes his dad is brave and has a dangerous job. David also said that driving would be a much more necessary skill than being good with a gun or with your fists because there was not much crime in Mercer.

Introducing his family, especially his sheriff father and war hero uncle. It's not just a simple introduction, though. There's an unease in the air, like something bad is brewing. I think this is a key part because it hints at future conflicts and makes you wonder what secrets the town and the Hayden family are hiding. It really pulls you in and makes you want to figure out what's going to happen.