53 pages • 1 hour read
Allen EskensThe Life We Bury
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2014A 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 17-22Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 17 Summary
Joe wakes up from a nightmare the next morning to Lila knocking on his door. She has read Crystal’s diary and made some notable discoveries. Crystal called Carl “the pervo next door” and “Creepy Carl” in her diary. Seven entries are coded using numbers instead of letters. Crystal starts using the code after something bad (she doesn’t specify what) happens. John Peterson, Carl’s lawyer, sent the code to the Department of Defense to see if they could crack it, but they never responded.
The diary entries seem to verify the prosecution’s argument that Crystal was being blackmailed by Carl after he saw her fooling around with Andy. On September 22, just two weeks before her murder, she writes, “If they find out, it’ll destroy me. They will send me to Catholic school. Goodbye cheerleading, goodbye life” (109). Lila also flags an excerpt from the trial transcripts—a testimony from Mrs. Tate, the school guidance counselor. On the same day Crystal was killed, she went to Mrs. Tate to ask if nonconsensual oral sex could be considered rape and if it would make a difference if the man was older.
Chapter 18 Summary
Joe goes to see Berthel. He wants to know whether the Department of Defense ever replied to Carl’s legal team’s request. They didn’t. Berthel also reveals that Carl requested a “speedy trial.” This is strange because a speedy trial usually hurts the defense; if they’d had more time, they could have built a better case. Berthel tells Joe, “It seemed to me like Carl Iverson wanted to go to prison” (115).
Chapter 19 Summary
Joe visits Carl and tells him about his conversation with Berthel. When Joe asks Carl why he didn't try harder to stay out of prison, Carl replies, “I thought it would silence the nightmare” (119). Joe also tells Carl about trying to crack Crystal’s code. Carl asks if Joe is a detective now and Joe responds, “I do like a good puzzle” (117). Carl tells him to look at the pictures taken of the fire, and to try to spot the difference between those taken before and those taken after the fire department arrived. Carl turns the conversation to Joe, asking him about Grandpa Bill. When Carl previously asked Joe how he died, Joe got angry. Joe suddenly confesses that he watched Bill die and considers the death his fault.
Chapter 20 Summary
Joe relays the story of Bill’s death to Carl. Joe was 11 and went fishing with Bill. Joe left an empty root beer bottle in the boat, and Bill stepped on it and fell overboard. The current carried Bill away from the boat. If Joe had let go of the anchor rope holding the boat in place, the boat could have drifted downstream to Bill. Instead, Joe panicked and froze. Bill drowned. Joe remains guilty about this incident and constantly thinks of the things he could have done differently to save Bill’s life.
Chapter 21 Summary
Joe and Lila tackle the “puzzle” of spotting the difference between the photographs before and after the firefighters arrived. The Lockwood/Hagen home is in the background of the photos. In the “before” picture, the blinds of the windows are drawn. In the “after” picture, the blinds of one window are lifted and a face can be seen. Douglas and Daniel told police they were at the car dealership. Danielle was working at a café. The face could therefore perhaps be Carl or Andy—or someone else who lied about their whereabouts. Joe and Lila start to realize Carl may be innocent after all. Joe describes the revelation: “It was as though we both saw the crack in the dam take shape, but we didn’t understand its ramifications. It would not be long before the crack gaped open, releasing its torrent” (129).
Chapter 22 Summary
Joe visits Carl and brings up the story about Carl saving Virgil's life in Vietnam. Carl insists that he wasn't trying to be a hero; he was trying to get himself killed:
‘I was Catholic back then […] My upbringing forbade suicide. It was one of those sins that could never be forgiven. The priest said that if you killed yourself you went straight to hell. The Bible also says that there’s no greater sacrifice than to give one’s life for one’s brother. And Virgil was my brother’ (133).
Joe asks Carl about the “other story from Vietnam” that Virgil had alluded to but refused to tell. Carl agrees to tell the story, which marks the “turning point of his life” (134). Joe goes home to write Carl’s story.
Chapters 17-22 Analysis
The details surrounding Bill’s death shed new light on Joe’s complicated relationship with his family. The reader gains an understanding of the guilt that binds Joe to his family. Bill’s death was a turning point; it was after this that Kathy became more volatile and violent. Joe’s guilt surrounding the death extends to the guilt he feels about his mother’s deterioration and the need to protect Jeremy. Joe tries to outrun his family history, which speaks to another theme: the impossibility of escaping one’s past.
The narrative provides new insights into Crystal’s character, using an epistolary technique incorporating her diary entries into Chapter 17. Photos of Crystal have already been revealed, but now those photos have a voice and personality, which Lila connects with. Joe characterizes Crystal's tone as “dramatic,” but Lila notes that for an adolescent girl “[e]verything is the end of the world” (109). Crystal’s coded diary entries add to the recurring puzzle motif: They are a puzzle within themselves and function as another piece in the larger puzzle that is the growing mystery surrounding Crystal’s death. The same is true for the photographs serving as a spot-the-difference puzzle.
The suspicion that Carl experienced some past trauma that drove him to take the blame for Crystal’s grisly murder is deepened by Carl’s explanation of why he saved Virgil’s life in Vietnam. According to Carl, he wasn’t trying to be a hero—he wanted to die. Virgil and Carl’s differing summations of this action—to Virgil, an act of heroism, and to Carl, a cowardly act of suicide—again speak to the deepening theme of the complexity of truth and the many nuances it holds. Carl agrees to tell Joe the “other story from Vietnam,” which marks the “turning point of his life” (134). This is a story that Carl has buried within him. The significance of the book’s title is becoming clearer as it becomes apparent that Carl has long tried to suppress this secret.
The problem with digging up such truths is that they are usually suppressed for a reason and may have negative repercussions. The metaphor of the “crack in the dam” (129) represents that a disruptive torrent—the truth—is about to be released, or revealed. Joe’s nightmare in Chapter 17 also serves to foreshadow the tumult and danger that lies ahead, as he and Lila go digging deeper into Carl’s truth. In Joe's dream, he is wrestling in a tournament, trying to escape from the grip of many hands; he releases one of the hands, but two more take its place. This continues until Joe appears close to surrendering to the onslaught. This ominous nightmare serves as a foreshadowing device and represents that Joe's family obligations and the need to solve this mystery are overwhelming him to the point where he might feel close to defeat.
