Returning to Earth-Week 1, Post B

The protagonist in this novel is a middle-aged man named Donald who is dying from Lou Gehrig's disease. My first impression of him was that he possessed a rather cynical nature. As I have read on it seems that he is probably just quite realistic and his comments may come off as cynical when he is, in fact, simply relaying a harsh truth. The novel is about Donald's mission to inform his family of their past starting with the endeavors of his great-grandfather, Clarence. He feels that this is necessary because Donald doesn't want to die without his family knowing their history. I think this is wise of him. So far, his family has an interesting history and I believe it will be beneficial to his children to learn about it. Donald is too weak to write this history himself so he is dictating it to his wife Cynthia who often chimes in with her own thoughts which can be identified with brackets. Cynthia offers insight to the reader about the state of Donald at certain moments during his storytelling. This is where the effects of the disease reveal themselves. Reading about his state has been powerful and has filled me with deep empathy for people suffering from this horrible disease. I'm excited to continue this novel and anticipate an interesting storyline.