45 pages • 1 hour read
Mikki Daughtry, Rachael LippincottAll This Time
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2020A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 36-44Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 36 Summary
Kyle tries to find Marley around the hospital, but she always rushes away from him. He finds her notebook of stories. Inside, she’s recorded all the tales from his memories of them throughout the year. He realizes that Marley has been the one feeding him the narrative of their fantasy year together.
Chapter 37 Summary
Chapter 38 Summary
Chapter 39 Summary
Kyle is almost ready to be discharged from the hospital. He’s determined to get Marley to talk to him before it’s too late. When he spots her looking at him during physical therapy, he follows her to the courtyard and helps her save the snails. He tells her the story of their first time picking snails at the pond. Then he stays silent with her, giving her space to feel comfortable to speak when she wants to.
Chapter 40 Summary
Kyle notices that Sam and Kim have been spending more alone time together. He orders a pearl online to give to Marley, an ode to her story of the man on the moon, who left pearls for his beloved on Earth. He approaches her and gives her the pearl. Finally, she speaks. Marley says she can’t be with him because she doesn’t deserve happiness. She explains that she saw the car coming and didn’t save Laura; if Laura can’t love, then neither should Marley. Kyle assures her that he’ll wait for her to be ready.
Chapter 41 Summary
Marley starts opening up to Kyle. He reads aloud her stories, and they delight in their shared storied memory. He arranges for Kim to adopt a terrier for Marley, just like the one Marley imagined to be Georgia. Sam and Kyle’s mom walk in on Marley and Kyle sharing the bed, and Kim laughing with them and the dog. Kyle’s mom is delighted to meet Marley.
Chapter 42 Summary
Chapter 43 Summary
Marley FaceTimes with Kyle to show him Georgia playing at the pond. Georgia chases a tennis ball into the road, and Marley scoops her up but leaves the ball in the street. A little boy runs into the road for the ball. Marley drops the phone to chase after the boy. Kyle screams out for her as he hears shouting and the screeching of tires. Kyle’s screaming is subdued by the prick of a needle.
Chapter 44 Summary
Marley is admitted to the hospital. She saved the little boy but is in a coma. Kyle tells her a story so vivid he feels like he’s in the fantasy with her. He begins with Marley’s favorite introductory phrase: “Once upon a time.” In the story, they’re sitting next to Laura’s grave; all it says on the tombstone is “Goodbye.” Kyle realizes that this grave is actually the one Marley created for herself. Kyle begs Marley to stay with him Earthside, and Laura appears. Marley reaches out for her. Marley in real life flat lines. Miraculously, her finger twitches and her heartbeat returns. She explains she just needed to say goodbye to Laura before her new life with Kyle could begin.
Chapters 36-44 Analysis
In the final chapters of All This Time, Lippincott and Daughtry present a miraculously happy ending, characteristic of a fairy tale.
Kyle earns Marley’s trust through remembering her most intimate symbols. He gives her a pearl from her story about the man on the moon. The pearl symbolizes Kyle’s love for Marley and demonstrates that careful attention he pays her stories. Marley’s love language is her storytelling; they are the only outlet for her deepest fears and desires. Daughtry and Lippincott advocate for storytelling as an important method of human connection. Marley’s stories are fairy tales, and Kyle’s gift is his way of validating them, and of proving the possibility of happy endings.
While she is on the brink of death, Kyle reaches out to Marley through her psyche. Kyle does for Marley what Marley did for Kyle—reach her where no one else can and give her subconscious hope for life. The ability for both Marley and Kyle to reach one another through comas is unscientific; Daughtry and Lippincott emphasize that their connection is special, almost magical.
Kyle transforms in new ways, completing his character arc. He gives Marley the same type of love and support that he’s received. Marley’s coma presents Kyle with the opportunity to demonstrate that he’s capable of showing love through more than gift-giving. He can only reach Marley by understanding and analyzing her secrets. He sees new symbolism in the stories Marley used to tell him, realizing that Laura’s grave is a cover for the grave Marley desires for herself. In meeting Marley in her own dream world, Kyle discovers that he can’t control the narrative. Instead, he must use Marley’s own stories to save her. This reveals Kyle’s growth. He proves that he is more empathetic and willing to let go of control to help another person.
These chapters also characterize Marley as severely traumatized. Marley’s lack of speech is an external symptom of that trauma. In losing Laura, Marley lost a piece of herself that she can never recover. Like Kyle, Marley grapples with Grief and Guilt. Each must accept that life can change in an instant after an accident. Through writing stories, Marley can imagine other scenarios and escape into fantasy. Stories are Marley’s main coping mechanism, one that she shares with Kyle when he’s in his coma. Although they are a form of escapism, they ultimately save both Marley and Kyle’s life. In exploring the theme of Fact Versus Fiction, Daughtry and Lippincott demonstrate that stories are important for survival.
All This Time is a fairy tale. The title echoes the famous fairy tale opener “once upon a time.” Rather than point toward the past, like in “once upon a time,” the title reveals the importance of the present. It implies that happiness is always available to us, even during our darkest tragedies. The ending is unrealistic but life-affirming. Marley and Kyle’s relationship mirrors the trope of men saving women in fairy tales; Kyle saves Marley from death, fulfilling the role of Prince Charming. Daughtry and Lippincott also subvert the fairy tale trope; Marley saves Kyle from his coma first and teaches him how to be more aware of his flaws. If she hadn’t saved him, he wouldn’t have been able to save her.
