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 18-19Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 18 Summary: “Darkness”
After the concert, Alex stays with Sol to make sure he is okay. Sol compliments Alex on how hard he worked; Alex takes offense, wishing Sol would call him talented too. Alex accuses Sol of playing better than him and of keeping his talent a secret. Sol retorts, “you’ve been coming here since the autumn already, and you’ve never asked me a thing about myself” (170). Sol continues by explaining some highlights of his knowledge and then has to pause to breathe. Alex takes the opportunity to pose a question to Sol: “Why don’t you play guitar anymore?” (171).
In response, Sol tells Alex a long narrative about his life as a touring musician. Sol met his wife, Ethel, who Laurie reminds him of, and he had to adjust when they had a daughter, Judy, together. On one night after deciding to play “one more big gig” (173), Ethel came to see him, and they got in an argument. After she left, she was killed by a drunk driver. Sol never “played again, until tonight” (175) so that he could be with his daughter. But as soon as Judy grew old enough, she moved out and refused contact with her father.
Chapter 19 Summary: “The Valentine’s Day Massacre”
Back at school, Alex finds himself in a conundrum over a Sadie Hawkins Valentine’s Day dance, where girls are responsible for asking boys to attend. His nerves are high, especially because “there was the dreaded, yet slightly exciting, prospect that Laurie might choose [him]” (178). Then Sarah, a quiet musician with a speech defect caused by her retainer, asks Alex to go with her. Although Alex harbors a number of secret criticisms about Sarah’s inability to pronounce words with her retainer, he doesn’t know what to do, especially when Laurie kicks him under the table to respond. Alex acquiesces to Sarah’s invitation. Meanwhile, Alex reflects on his parents, who are planning their own romantic Valentine’s Day evening. The next day, Alex is forced to watch as Laurie accepts Brad Hunter’s invitation to attend the dance with him. Alex feels insecure watching Brad, who is a star athlete.
On the night of the dance, Alex’s family receives a call that Sol is in the hospital with pneumonia, which can kill a patient who has emphysema. Alex’s mom drives him to Sarah’s house to meet her. Sarah stuns Alex by looking “really, really pretty” (186), as well as by not having a retainer in, meaning she can speak normally. Alex explains about Sol and Sarah offers to go with him to the hospital.
At the hospital, Sol’s “lips were blue” (189) and he speaks with great difficulty. Despite his medical condition, Sol begins to refer to Sarah as Laurie, and Alex doesn’t know how to respond or make Sarah feel better about the awkward situation, leaving her despondent until they get ready to leave. After Sarah walks out, Alex corrects Sol, who smiles and says, “Of course, she’s not Laurie” (192). Alex realizes Sol has just played a joke on him; despite Alex’s numerous apologies to Sarah, she is unhappy.
When they arrive at the dance, the first person they see is Laurie, who Alex thinks looks incredible in a red dress. Laurie, Brad, Alex, and Sarah share an awkward conversation. Once Alex reveals the news about Sol being in the hospital, Laurie interrupts the rest of the evening to insist that Alex take her to the hospital. Laurie also sets Sarah and Brad up with each other.
Alex and Laurie go to the hospital, where Sol warmly greets Laurie and talks to her with kindness. At one point, when Laurie leaves the room, Sol tells Alex to get serious with Laurie. On the elevator back down, Alex leans in to kiss Laurie after pressing the stop button on the elevator; the sudden movement makes them hit their teeth together, leaving Alex’s lip bloody.
Chapters 18-19 Analysis
Alex continues to grow in his understanding of the people around him through several uncomfortable moments. In particular, Alex experiences a revelation in his understanding of Sol when he learns about Sol’s history as a musician and about Sol’s wife’s tragic death due to a drunk driver. This is the first time in the novel that Alex sits still to really listen to someone else; in previous interactions when someone shares something emotional, like his mom and Laurie, Alex avoids discussing the content. Though Alex initially experiences some discomfort because of Sol’s tone, Alex hears what Sol has to say, allowing him to grow both in how he thinks about Sol and how he thinks about his own behavior. Similarly, when he visits Sol in the hospital later that month, Alex again listens when Sol gives him advice about Laurie; this is the second time that Alex does not shy away from a difficult conversation after experiencing some discomfort. This mirrors some of Alex’s growth as a musician: The more reflective and open to new ideas he is, the more he moves into being a better version of himself.
In Chapter 19, Sonnenblick uses Sarah’s character to shift the plot forward towards a resolution, both with Alex’s relationship with Sol and Alex’s relationship with Laurie. Though Sarah is almost a completely peripheral character, she provides an important backdrop for Alex to learn two key lessons. First, Sarah reflects back to Alex what his earliest opinions about helping the elderly were, telling him that it is “heroic the way [he is] helping an old man in need” (187). In many of Alex’s earlier descriptions of what he is learning from the nursing home, he depicts his actions as heroic and helpful, rather than positioning himself as benefiting or learning in any way.
Through the juxtaposition of Sarah’s naïve beliefs, readers can see Alex’s development into someone who views his relationship with Sol as deeper and more important than simply “helping” (187). After this interaction, Sarah also provides a foil to Laurie’s character when Alex takes Sarah to the hospital to see Sol, who uses the opportunity to pretend he thinks Sarah is Laurie. Sarah’s inability to speak up for herself or act as an individual makes it so this interaction is very uncomfortable for Alex, who is forced to realize how special Laurie is to him. By including Sarah’s character in the novel, Sonnenblick brings into sharp relief Alex’s more recent growth.
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