Stupid Reasons
There is an infinite supply of stupid reasons capable of causing a person to stop loving the thing which chance has handed them to love. One of the stupidest of all—yet somehow seemingly impossible to avoid—is letting the ignorance of people you don’t even know determine your own feelings. It is a pestilential aspect of the human condition:
“Later on, when Jeremiah saw a cartoon about a monkey playing basketball, he felt ashamed, like that monkey was supposed to be him somehow. And he knew then, the war was all around him. It was people and commercials trying to make him feel like he didn't even matter, trying to make him feel like there was something wrong with being black.”
Star-Crossed Lovers
References are made to Romeo and Juliet. And it is, in its own uniquely different way, an Upper West Side story. There is a poetic ambiance situating a sense of timelessness to the story and that sense is often underlined through the use of metaphorical imagery:
“The morning moved on as if this moment, the moment of him and Ellie, had always been here.”
Separation Is Hardest on the Kids
Miah’s domestic situation is unique. His parents are separated, which is common enough, but their physical division is limited to a single street, which is perhaps less common. In other words, mom and dad live right across the street from each other. According to Jeremiah, the street might as well be a border separating two warring countries:
“They were at his mother's stoop. Jeremiah looked over at his father's window knowing he'd have to sleep there tonight. It'd been a week since he'd stayed with him. He sighed and sat on the bottom stair. `Well, which is the enemy's homeland and which one is my own?’"
Living Well
Unlike West Side Story and its tale of star-crossed lovers, this Upper West Side story is not about the low-income strata of New York City. Jeremiah’s parents are separately successful in their respective careers and as for Ellie, well, don’t cry for her, Tina. At least not yet:
“Our apartment takes up the top two floors. Inside, it's more like a house than an apartment, with high windows, a fireplace in the living room, and stairs leading up to the bedrooms.”
The Message
The book concludes with the important message it hopes to impart to its young readers. Of course, it applies to older readers, too, but the older one gets, the less pressing it becomes to heed the message. Because with each passing year, it is a lesson personally learned: cherish the chances life gives you and never reject them for stupid reasons.
“Time comes to us softly, slowly. It sits beside us for a while. Then, long before we are ready, it moves on.”
