Second Response to Lucky...

In the first section that we read, it talked about her parents' relationship with each other as very distant and very non-affectionate.  My group thought that this might have explained some of Sebold's behaviors and her attitude towards life, but in the next section that we read, we learn that her parents not being very "lovey-dovey" didn't really affect her as much as it made her wish that things were different.  

For example, there is a scene where she is visiting potential colleges with her father and they are spending the night in the same hotel room.  She thinks that it would be funny to put small ice cubes at the foot of her father's bed, so that when he returns from reading in the lobby his bed will be cold and wet.  When he discovers this present that she left for him, he tosses the ice cubes back at her and this begins an ice cube war.  At this point, Sebold writes that at moments like that she pretended he was the big brother he never had.  What I think that this passage tells us, is that although he is not affectionate and is VERY into his studies and work, he has given her a happy childhood along with fond memories of her father.