Cassie, 2017: Chapter 35 Summary & Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

In November 2017, Cassie travels with Duke to her father's house in San Antonio for Thanksgiving. The visit is tense from the start: Cassie's father is recovering from a four-day hospital stay that forced a detox, and he wears a neck brace, his hand trembling as he drinks from a glass of Dr Pepper. Cassie's old instincts kick in immediately.

While Duke and her father talk in the kitchen, Cassie slips into her father's bedroom. She searches the dresser drawers by muscle memory, checking for hidden mini bottles of alcohol—a habit from her childhood, when she would try to determine how soon their world might fall apart. In the fifth drawer, she finds something unexpected: a small leather photo album filled with photographs of her mother. The images show her mother as a teenager in a maroon Sooners T-shirt, at a bowling alley, reading at a talent show, and nursing baby Cassie in bed. The intimacy of the photos—especially the nursing one—takes Cassie's breath away.

Andrew catches her. He is stern at first, but when Cassie shows him the album, he reveals he has never seen these photos before. They share a rare moment of connection. Cassie tells Andrew what their mother was like: funny, a gifted reader of books aloud, a volunteer at the Salvation Army, a great teacher. Andrew tells Cassie that their father has dated a couple of women since their mother's death, though nothing serious. Cassie, unable to ask directly whether their father has ever been violent with anyone else, lets the question die.

Cassie proposes they take the album to Austin, and Andrew agrees. They hide it under Cassie's shirt and lie to their father, claiming Andrew was showing Cassie his room. Cassie stashes the album in her duffel bag.

At dinner, Duke and Andrew bond over karate—Andrew is an orange belt testing for first-degree green. The meal feels almost normal, and Cassie's father smiles at her with a silent, tentative question: Isn't this nice? Cassie is struck by the strain of pretense, the forceful forgetting, the way the family's history of drinking and violence gets smoothed over into something palatable. She even reflects that sometimes she wished her father had hit her too, so she would have a physical mark to confirm what she witnessed was real.

That night, in Cassie's old bedroom, Duke questions the plan to take Andrew with them to Austin. He argues that her father seems sober and that the decision deserves more conversation. Cassie refuses to take the chance. Their argument escalates: Duke says he never knew her father was an alcoholic until a few days ago; Cassie accuses him of never asking. Duke points out that Cassie never wanted to talk about her family, and he is right. Cassie reflects that Lore, whatever she may be hiding about the night Andres was killed, is honest about her feelings—and that honesty forced Cassie to wish she could be honest too.

Cassie is about to tell Duke something about her father and her past when her phone buzzes. It is Carlos Russo. She answers, leaving Duke in the dark.

Carlos is drunk or high. He tells Cassie that Lore used his family and dumped them like trash. Cassie defends Lore, saying she thinks Lore wanted too many good things at once and did not mean to hurt anyone. Carlos then makes a stunning claim: Lore killed his father. When Cassie asks whether he means her choices killed him or whether Lore herself murdered him, Carlos insists she did. Then he delivers the final revelation: Lore was pregnant at the time.

Key Events

Cassie searches her father's bedroom for hidden alcohol and finds a leather photo album of her mother instead.
Andrew catches Cassie; they share their first true moment of connection over the album.
Cassie learns her father has dated since her mother's death.
Cassie and Andrew decide to take the album to Austin, hiding it from their father.
Duke and Andrew bond over karate at Thanksgiving dinner.
Duke questions the plan to take Andrew with them, leading to a heated argument about Cassie's secrecy.
Cassie is about to reveal something about her past when Carlos Russo calls.
Drunk Carlos claims Lore used his family, says she killed his father, and reveals she was pregnant at the time.

Character Development

Cassie is caught between two selves in this chapter: the hypervigilant child who learned to search for hidden bottles and hold still to avoid detection, and the adult trying to build a life with Duke. Her instinct to snoop, her need to know whether her father is drinking, and her wish for a physical mark of violence all show how deeply her childhood trauma still shapes her. At the same time, her decision to take the album—and her willingness to share memories of her mother with Andrew—marks a small step toward openness. Her near-confession to Duke, interrupted by Carlos's call, suggests she is on the verge of breaking her silence, though the interruption lets her avoid it.

Andrew emerges as more than a passive child in this chapter. He has been managing their father's drinking—he cleaned out the alcohol while their father was in the hospital—and he lies smoothly to protect Cassie's secret. His swearing startles Cassie, and she wonders whether she should correct him if she is to be his guardian. His longing to hear about their mother reveals a depth of feeling that Cassie had not acknowledged.

Duke is frustrated and hurt. He points out, accurately, that Cassie never wanted to talk about her family and that he never pushed. His question about whether taking Andrew is the right move is reasonable, but Cassie hears it as a betrayal. The argument exposes the fault line in their relationship: Cassie's withholding and Duke's willingness not to ask.

Carlos Russo appears only as a voice on the phone, but his drunken accusations—that Lore used his family, killed his father, and was pregnant—recast everything Cassie thought she knew. His pain is evident, but so is his unreliability.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Alcoholism and hidden drinking. Cassie's search of her father's drawers is a ritual of hypervigilance. She needs to know whether he is secretly drinking so she can predict when their world will fall apart. Andrew's quiet management of their father's drinking shows how the burden has passed to him.

Family secrets and the pretense of normalcy. The Thanksgiving dinner is a performance: the father asks with his eyes whether they are having a good time, and Cassie feels the strain of pretending everything is fine. The photo album is a secret they keep from their father, and Cassie's past is a secret she keeps from Duke.

Maternal memory and legacy. The photo album is a tangible piece of their mother that neither Cassie nor Andrew has seen before. Cassie's description of her mother—funny, generous, a great teacher—is an act of preservation, an attempt to remember her mother apart from being a victim or an accomplice.

Withholding vs. revealing truth. Cassie and Duke's argument centers on who is responsible for the silence in their relationship. Cassie's near-confession, interrupted by Carlos's call, dramatizes her struggle to tell the truth. Carlos's drunken revelation about Lore's pregnancy is another withheld truth finally surfacing.

Trauma and hypervigilance. Cassie's old habits—holding still, listening for her father's voice, never actually using her headphones—show how her childhood trained her to be constantly alert. Her wish for a physical mark of violence is a chilling illustration of how trauma can make people doubt their own perceptions.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter is a turning point on two fronts. On the personal level, it deepens Cassie's relationship with Andrew, giving them their first genuine connection and setting up the guardianship decision that will shape the rest of the novel. It also exposes the fragility of Cassie's relationship with Duke, as their argument reveals how much she has kept from him.

On the mystery front, Carlos's drunken phone call delivers two major revelations: his claim that Lore killed his father, and the news that Lore was pregnant at the time of the murder. Both claims complicate the central investigation. Carlos is an unreliable witness—drunk, traumatized, and repeating a line he and Penelope have shared for years—but the pregnancy revelation, in particular, opens new questions about Lore's motives and the night Andres died.

The chapter also reinforces the novel's central concern with memory and doubt. Cassie's reflection on how the images of her father's violence rearrange into something milder, more palatable, echoes the novel's larger questions about how we remember, what we suppress, and what we choose to believe.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Cassie search her father's bedroom, and what does the photo album represent to her?

Cassie searches because she needs to know whether her father is secretly drinking again. Her childhood taught her that hidden bottles meant their world could fall apart at any moment, and she cannot relax without knowing. The photo album represents something different: a piece of her mother that neither she nor Andrew has ever seen. It is a tangible connection to a woman Cassie has struggled to remember apart from the drinking and violence. Taking the album to Austin is a way of preserving her mother's memory—and of giving Andrew access to a mother he never really knew.

2. What does the argument between Cassie and Duke reveal about their relationship?

The argument reveals that their relationship has been built on mutual avoidance. Cassie never wanted to talk about her family, and Duke never pushed. When the truth about her father's alcoholism surfaces, Duke feels blindsided, and Cassie blames him for not asking. The argument shows that their compatibility—her disinclination to reveal, his disinclination to ask—has been a way of avoiding intimacy rather than building it. Cassie's near-confession suggests she recognizes this, but Carlos's call interrupts her attempt to change.

3. Why is Carlos Russo's phone call significant, and how reliable is his testimony?

The call is significant because it introduces two major claims: that Lore killed his father, and that she was pregnant at the time. Carlos is clearly drunk or high, and his language echoes Penelope's almost word for word, suggesting a story the siblings have repeated to each other for years. His reliability is doubtful, but the pregnancy revelation is specific and verifiable, and it could explain motives Cassie has not yet considered. The call forces Cassie—and the reader—to weigh a traumatized man's testimony against the image of Lore that has been building throughout the novel.