What do you think your life would be like without one of your parents? Not as if you never knew them, but if they were taken away from you at a young age, about 5 years old. This was the terrible tragedy the main character Lois, of “By the Time You Read This” by Lola Jaye overcomes. Although the young life of Lois, about up to twelve years old is a blur, we infer that she and her father carry a very close relationship. Lois goes through hard times as a teenager with both her “new family” and socially, but the only way she finds comfort is through a manual her father wrote for her. Kevin (her father) wrote this manual for her when he found at he had only 6 months to live. Lois is a strong character and a hero to all children living through the same issue of losing a parent.
Lois starts the book off when she is twelve years old. At this pre-teen age, she is already independent, and has a bit of a jealous streak. Lois is not into being girly, in fact, when she had to wear a dress to her mother’s wedding, she could not have been more disgusted. “I was fed-up. Almost a teenager, yet there I was clad in a frilly yellow dress that allowed me to resemble a pavlova. (Page 4) Along with all of these personality flaws, she also is a bit pessimistic. Lois is definitely looking at her glass of water as half empty. Does her personality change as she goes through the hard obstacles of grouping up into an adult? The following events are ones that will change Lois’s life forever. The first major event and by far the most-important in the entire story happened at her mother’s wedding at only twelve years old. After not seeing her aunt Philomena for years, she finds her to be at the wedding. What if someone who’s barely been in your life is the one to make the greatest change in it? This is what Lois experiences. Philomena was Kevin’s closest sibling, so he left it up to her to give Lois her forever changing life guide. The story behind this? When Kevin realized he had only 6 months to live, he felt it was only necessary to write his daughter a life guide from ages 12-30 years old. The main rule to this manual was that Lois could read one new chapter each year on her birthday but could not go past that, although she could look at previous pages anytime she wanted to. Lois really appreciates this after she starts reading it, but in the beginning she shows her pessimistic side. “Philomena had handed me a crumpled old plastic bag like it was a pot of glistening gold.” (Page 20) The second event that I believe changes Lois through-out the story is when she takes her father’s advice (age 20) and travels to the United States. When Lois lived in America for 3 months, she was a counselor at a summer camp, experienced the grand New York City and lost her virginity. This summer she also tried drugs for the first time. I believe this was a huge stepping stone in Lois’s life and also brought her closer to her mother as well. “So I began. The empire state building. The bratty children. Erin. Greg. The directors wobbly knee’s. Learning to survive on my own. The s’mores. The housekeeping. The lovely weather.” These are the greatest events that stuck out in this story.
After everything, Lois changes tremendously. Lois changes both mentally and socially. Mentally Lois has learned to survive on her own without having someone to lean on. Lois show’s this clearly on page 117 when she says “If my experiences with Carla had taught me one thing, it was to forget about a replacement roommate and somehow find a way to take care of the bills myself.” Lastly, Lois changes socially when her and her mother share a better relationship. After her mother gives birth to Lois’s step-sister she continues to tell Lois, “No love. I have everything I need right here.” Lois thanks to the help of her extremely creative father turns into a great woman with a promising life.
By the end of the story, I believe Jaye is trying to tell us to enjoy life and try to get along with your new family because in the end everything will eventually work its self out, but then you have wasted time in between. The transformation of Lois shows that even if everything isn’t right in the beginning, it will be towards the end. Also, through this story I believe that nothing can break through the strong relationship of a parent and child. Lois continues to be a strong character and heroic to all children.
