Comfort & Joy

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2005

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-4

Part 1, Chapters 5-9

Part 2, Chapters 10-12

Part 2, Chapters 13-14

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Character Analysis

Joy

Joy is the main character and protagonist of the story. When the story begins, she is a high school librarian in Bakersfield, California. A year after she walked in on her husband and sister having an affair, she is still struggling to return to herself. She feels untethered, lost, and lonely in her large house, where she used to live with her ex-husband. The first half of the book tracks Joy’s adventure in Rain Valley, but when she wakes up in Bakersfield having been in a coma, she is revealed as an unreliable narrator, and for the rest of the story, she grapples with her own mental state.

In the beginning, she blames her sister for the state of her life, but as the story goes on, she begins to take responsibility for her multi-layered unhappiness. She acknowledges that her marriage with Thom was over long before Stacey slept with him. She faces the fact that she has let her dreams die because she was afraid to follow them. After her experience with Bobby and Daniel, she sees the happiness she can attain if she lets herself try. Her experience in Washington and her recovery from the plane crash change her—she gains the strength to lean on her faith, forgive her sister, and pursue the life she wants.

Stacey

Stacey is Joy’s younger sister. In the first chapter, Stacey stands in Joy’s driveway asking her to attend her wedding and revealing her pregnancy with Joy’s ex-husband, Thom. To Joy, Stacey is the carefree younger sister who gets what she wants, but Stacey’s experience has been different from Joy’s vision.

Stacey did not go to college and spent most of her adult years working different jobs in Bakersfield until she connected with Thom. Stacey has always seen Joy as the successful sister who had a career and a husband. While Stacey is introduced as an antagonist and an agent of destruction in Joy’s life, she emerges as a supporting, loving sister. Stacey is the only person to whom Joy can openly talk about Daniel and Bobby after she wakes up from the crash, and she consistently seeks her sister out from the opening of the novel. Her faith in Joy is the embodiment of the love Joy desperately needs. As Joy grapples with her mental state and confusion in the second half of the story, Stacey helps Joy both stay ground in reality and trust her own perception. Stacey is a complex character because of her affair, but she is deeply supportive of her sister and willing to admit, again and again, her mistakes.

Daniel O’Shea

Daniel is Bobby’s father. He grew up in Ireland and moved to Washington with his wife, Maggie, and their son, Bobby, but divorced Maggie when Bobby was four. He then moved to Boston, where he works as a stockbroker. He moved back to Washington when his ex-wife died to take care of Bobby. Daniel wants to fix up their home to sell it, but Bobby wants to stay.

Daniel struggles to be the father he wants to be. He loves his son deeply, but he forgets about Christmas, and as much as he tries to understand Bobby, he sometimes fails to say the right thing. He does not perfectly fill Maggie’s shoes, but by maintaining traditions like their beach night and making time to look at photos and remember Maggie, Daniel keeps her memory and love for Bobby alive. Daniel struggles to act like Joy is real when only Bobby can see her, but he makes an effort to communicate with her. When Joy returns to Washington, Daniel immediately recognizes her only from his son’s descriptions and drawings, and he says that he believes in magic. In saying this, he expresses his faith in both Bobby and Joy. Daniel quickly accepts the situation and pulls Joy into an embrace, offering a final moment of certainty and renewal for Joy and cementing the three of them as a family.

Bobby O’Shea

Bobby is the eight-year-old child with whom Joy connects during her time in the rainforest. Bobby is reeling after his mother recently died when driving into a tree in the rain at night. Since Daniel left when he was four, he lived only with his mother until she died. He does not trust Daniel—he is mad that he left in the first place, and he feels that his dad does not understand him.

Bobby is carefree, playful, and childish. He speaks with his mother as if she is still alive, and when he loses access to this version of her, he fears that he will forget her. He loves to play with action figures, decorate for Christmas, and go to the beach. After his mom dies, he struggles in his relationship with God because, in his view, God let his mom die, but with Joy’s example of having faith despite the loss of her mom, he can reconnect with God. When Joy breaks her promise to be there for Christmas, Bobby does not stop believing—he continues to get fresh Christmas trees until she arrives again in March. Bobby is a hurt child, but with the help of Joy and Daniel, he exemplifies the resilience it takes to grieve and forgive those around him.