Summary

Chapters 1 through 4 – On a morning when first person narrator Aristotle (Ari) Mendoza wakes up feeling unhappy that nothing in his life has changed from the day before (even though he went to sleep wanting it to), and after a breakfast conversation with his wise and sensitive mother, Ari goes to the local swimming pool. Narration of his walk includes descriptions of what he sees as his lonely family situation: twin sisters twelve years older, an older brother in prison, and a father suffering with the aftermath of serving in the Vietnam War. Narration also describes how he faces down a pack of verbally abusive bullies, and how, at the pool, he feels uncomfortable around other men, commenting that he doesn’t seem to feel the same way they do about a lot of things, particularly girls. As he...