1. The first chapter opens up announcing that the character has been diagnosed with hepatitis. The boy is weak from fall to spring, and only begins to get better in January when the weather warms up. His mother moves his bed from his room to the balcony so he can get fresh air and watch the other children play outside. The boy is told by his mom to go buy flowers and say thank you to a lady who helped him home one day after throwing up on the sidewalk, which in his mind was the most embarrassing thing he could have done. The lady cleaned off the boy’s face and washed the sidewalk with two buckets of water and walked him home. After arriving home a doctor was called, where the was originally declared contagious with hepatitis.
2. After the first few chapters i caught myself wondering where this book was heading. However, that quickly changed in the sixth chapter. In my opinion I do not believe it is realistic that a woman would at least twice the age of a 15 year old boy would feel any sexual emotions towards. At the beginning of chapter six, I thought that Frau was a Jew and had been taken away by the Nazis and the boy would learn of this and forever despise Germany. I also felt a connection to the boy about his thought process and decision to go back to visit Frau a second time. This has happened to me numerous times in my life and there are many occurrences in which I wish i could go back and act differently. The book leaves me feeling a need for more information. I find it hard to believe how the two characters have come together to be lovers, but there may be something else that we do not know that may have further sparked interest. I also feel that this ‘strange’ love affair could end badly, in my opinion for the boy, there may be a reason why the woman is choosing this boy as her lover. I want to read further on and find out where the plot goes from here.
