Essay Questions

What imagery which Chase uses in the opening pages seems to provide a much more contextually appropriate title for the book than the one the author finally chose?

Restart is certainly not an inappropriate title considering that Chase Ambrose is given the unusual opportunity to restart his course in life from a new origination point. Restarting something, however, carries the strong connotation of choice. Restarting something is usually the result of a person making an active decision to do so for one reason or another. In addition, there is nothing inherent in a decision to restart to suggest that the choice was made because conditions and circumstances have fundamentally change. On the other, one of the earliest metaphors which Chase uses to describe his condition is an almost perfect fit for exactly what has happened to him: “I’m like a computer with its hard drive wiped clean. You can reboot it and the operating system works fine. But when you look for a document or file to open, nothing’s there.” Since he quite obviously recognized the validity of the comparison, one is left wondering after reading this passage why didn’t with the obvious and title the novel “Reboot.”

Who are the Dumbledoras and why are they described as living in the Graybeard Motel?

The term Dumbledora and Graybeard Motel are examples of what passes for comic inspiration among those not fully equipped with wit. The Graybeard Motel is the name that the Chase and his two toadies, Aaron and Bell, have given to the assisted living center to which they have been sentenced for community service as punishment. The Dumbledoras, in keeping with the mastery of theme of these comic impresarios is a reference to the long gray beard sported by Dumbledore in the Harry Potter movies (one assume none of the three know this fact about Dumbeldore as a result of reading the books). With that in mind, guess what the male residents of the Graybeard Motel are called? Yeah, Dumbledores, of course. What else could they be called?

What chance do Brendan and Kimberly have of making it past middle school still being a couple?

The big fat chance of a snowball which has been transported into the depth of a fiery underworld, that’s the likelihood of Brendan and Kimberly actually enjoying a long-term relationship. Kimberly’s history suggests that she isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, that he taste toward guys is questionably based mostly on displays of brute masculinity, and that the most important person in her life at any given moment is always going to be her. Even after switching allegiances from Chase to Brendan she still is capable of exploiting the One Man Band video into her own viral video without even giving Brendan the simple credit of identifying him by name in Worst Tuba Fail Ever.

No, there seems little possibility given all available evidence that Kimberly will ever really feel for Brendan the way he feels for her. But then that is the whole point of their rocky road to a relationship. As Brendan writes, the mere fact that they are together at all “proves anything is possible.” And the book itself suggests that among the many anythings in the world that may be possible, Kimberly becoming a little smarter, slightly improving her taste in guys, and even learning to become just tad less self-centered is certainly one of them.