Summary

In the first section here that is cited as taking place in “2013-2014,” as a high school sophomore, Pete has decided he wants to major in English. He credited his decision to the final two Rothstein novels that he was the only one to have read and to Howard Ricker, his sophomore English teacher. He remembered a lecture Ricker had given about time being the ruler that measured what literature was stupid and what was not. The teacher was of the belief he could not argue the merits of a piece of literature because literature had to be judged subjectively.

One of the books that Ricker had his students read was “The Rocking Horse Winner.” Pete considered the trunk of money his rocking horse. Even though it had helped his parents through a bad time, however, the money was...