How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter)
Quote #4
[John:] When Angelo Pignati came to the door, I wish you could have seen him. He was in his late fifties and was pretty big, and he had a bit of a beer stomach. But the part that slaughtered me was this great big smile on his face. He looked so glad to see us I thought his eyes were going to twinkle out of his head. He would've made one @#$% of a Santa Claus if you had put a white beard on him and stuck him on a street corner in December with a little whiskey on his breath. (5)
In this description, Mr. Pignati looks...sort of like...one of his pigs. Interesting, also, how he is only in his late fifties; the rest of the book makes him seem much older. What makes John think of the Santa Claus image? Perhaps Mr. Pignati's innocence?
Quote #5
[After Mr. Pignati tells them his wife is in California] John: For a moment he [Mr. Pignati] looked as though he was going to cry, and then suddenly he changed the subject. Lorraine's nervous radar was in full operation, and I could tell it made her sad to look at the old man. (5)
Like Lorraine, John is observant; he notices not only Mr. Pignati's reaction to his wife's absence, but also Lorraine's reaction to Mr. Pignati's reaction.
Quote #6
[John:] It was a semiprivate room, and I'd better not tell you about the other patient in there that made it semiprivate because he looked like he wasn't long for this world. They had a guy with some kind of oxygen-tent thing nearby that looked like a malaria net. (11)
John's breezy description of a dying man seems out of place in the context of his real concern for Mr. Pignati. He sounds kind of like…Lorraine's mom.