The Divorce Express

            The book “The Divorce Express” is about the effects of divorce on a young adolescent named Phoebe. During the book, Phoebe goes through a significant emotional change. In the beginning, she feels like she is trapped by her parents divorce, and that she has no voice in what happens anymore. Throughout the book, Phoebe goes through important events and experiences that change the way she sees her parents divorce. By the end of the book, she thinks of divorce as a chance to learn new things.

            In the beginning, Phoebe feels trapped, and like she’s stuck in the middle of her parents divorce. She also feels lost and like she has no view in their decisions. I know that Phoebe feels confined by her parents divorce because she says “Rearrange the letters in the word PARENTS and you get the world ENTRAPS.” She says this because she feels like the decisions that her parents make in their divorce come down on her and traps her. I know that Phoebes feels like she has no voicing in her parents’ decisions because she says “I had no say. Their divorce was arranged by the time I got home from camp.”

            The events and experiences that Phoebe goes through throughout the book change the way she sees her parents divorce. One example of this is when her father is dating a lady named Mindy. Phoebe notices that he father hasn’t been this happy in a while, and she suddenly thinks that her parents’ divorce was for the best, to keep her parents happy. I know this because she thinks “I’m glad my father found Mindy. He’s happier now. I wonder if he was this happy with mother. Maybe it’s a good thing they divorced, so they could both be happier.” This line shows that Phoebe is starting to accept to reason for her parents divorce. She realizes the good affect is has on their lives, and how when they’re happy, she is.

            By the end of the story, Phoebe thinks of her parents divorce as a chance for her to learn new things and to find her own place in the world. I know this because she says “I don’t feel entrapped anymore, with no place to go. I have both my parents places, and I’m learning to have my own place in the world.”  This line shows that Phoebe is learning to get a handle on her parents divorce, and that she is finding her own place in the world. She doesn’t feel as hopeless and lost in the beginning of the story, and she isn’t as upset about her parents divorce either.  I also know that Phoebe changes the way she thinks of divorce because she says “I also learned that if you rearrange the letters in the word DIVORCE, you get the word DISCOVER.”  That line shows that Phoebe thinks of divorce as a change to learn new things, whether they may be about your life, or someone else’s.

            Throughout the book, Phoebe’s words and actions show how she goes through a significant emotional change, where she comes to accept the fact of her parents divorce and find her own place in the world, after being lost for so long.