Infinite Summer

Good grief, that was heavy going. Anyone else find this one of the most difficult sections of the novel (emotionally)?

Are we meant to conclude that Matty Pemulis the prostitute is Michael Pemulis's brother? This section mentions a brother "Micky" who was always asleep during the father's visits. After I read this section, I kept thinking there would be some confirmation, and that this horrid childhood background would somehow figure into Pemulis storyline, but unless I missed something I think it's a thread left dangling.

Michael Pemulis’s “pre-E.T.A. home life was apparently hackle-raising” (p. 154) and he has an "older brother" (p. 551).

This was a very difficult section to read. I did put the book aside for at least a day after this.

Child abuse is very hard to deal with, even in a work of fiction.