81 pages • 2 hours read
Jordan SonnenblickNotes From The Midnight Driver
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2006A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 23-24Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 23 Summary: “The Work of Breathing”
The next time Alex sees Sol, the nurse informs him that Sol is at the doctor’s for tests related to congestive heart failure and emphysema. The nurse compliments Alex on his “special relationship” (226) with Sol. Alex realizes that she is telling him that Sol is getting closer to dying and feels an intense rush of emotion. He has about an hour to wait until Sol comes back, so he goes to get his new gifted guitar from the storage locker.
When Alex reaches for the guitar, he knocks the boxes in the locker over, dropping a bunch of photos on the floor. After an hour, Alex waits for Sol, “trying to process what [he’d] seen in the ‘Judy box’” (228). Sol comes in, looking very sick and struggling to breathe. Sol asks Alex to play some music, and Alex obliges, playing for so long that the nurse has to come in and ask him to leave.
Before going, Alex asks the nurse to explain what is happening to Sol. She describes the “work of breathing” (230), and how much Sol has to do to take each breath. After leaving the hospital, Alex goes to see Laurie, whose father warns him that “she’s in a serious mood” (231) after receiving ultrasound photos from her mom of the new baby. Upstairs, Alex finds Laurie curled up on her bed, which now has a cracked headboard. He sits with her and gives her space to process her feelings. After some time, he tells Laurie about what he found, which was “EVERYTHING of [Judy’s]” (236) stored in this one box. Both Laurie and Alex end up crying entwined, almost kiss but hit teeth again, and laugh on the bed until the frame cracks and they fall to the floor.
Chapter 24 Summary: “Peace in My Tribe”
After his emotional response to the Judy Box, Alex does some thinking of his own about his family. He heads home with the feeling that “there were some things [he] should say to [his] mom and dad” (238). When he gets home, he sits his parents down, apologizes for his behavior, and apologizes for being “not so easy with the whole divorce thing” (239). His parents joke with him and hug him. His mom goes to bed, and Alex and his dad have tea together.
In his weekly report to Judge Trent, Alex reflects on what he has learned by looking at the Judy Box and what it taught him about his own life, including how he helped his friend and how he apologized to his parents. Alex then extends a second invitation to the April benefit concert. He receives a very short affirmative response from the judge.
Chapters 23-24 Analysis
The emotional current of the novel moves into high speed in this section of the novel, as Alex finally puts together some of the lessons he has been slowly learning. Much of this escalation stems from Alex’s discovery of the Judy Box, which makes him realize that “most parents love their children […] no matter what” (243), and that he has some work to do in his own family relationships. Though Alex doesn’t immediately discuss this discovery with Sol, he makes great strides in his support of Laurie, as well as healing his relationship with his parents, who he had been ignoring and avoiding up until this point. These shifts reveal Alex’s emotional maturity: He is now able to both think about how he feels as well as to reflect on what those around him are going through.
Although it is not featured heavily in the novel, one underlying thematic element of Notes from the Midnight Driver is how young people learn to understand the deaths of those around them. Sol’s emphysema, which an older reader might immediately interpret as a terminal illness, does not immediately strike Alex as an urgent issue. It isn’t until this section of the novel that Alex has to wrestle with the possibility that his friend and teacher might pass away. Alex does not directly process this with Sol, but his intense feelings about Sol’s illness do prompt him to take action in his own relationships, a healthy response for a young person faced with the reality of death.
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By Jordan Sonnenblick
