themes
grief
Grief is a major theme in this book. But not just the feeling of grief, there is also coping with grief, healing, and learning that grief from an event such as this family experiences will never truly pass, but that is okay. Moving on does not happen immediately.
Family
The Dad and Boys have lost a major part of their family. Now they not only have to learn to live without her but they have to learn how to stay a family. Dad falls apart and even once describes himself as "a strange father" since the mother's death, the boys fight viciously to feel something and to remember their mother. Near the end of the book they do come together with the help of Crow.