Most of the time, authors have little to do with the cover that gets glued onto the pages of their book, but in this case, the cover art is a helpful part of the novel's artistic effect. Ezra's journey is a roller coaster that starts (as most roller coasters do) with a rising to great heights. Ezra is impressive, skillful, athletic, competent, popular, and savvy. He wins approval and authority naturally as the reader listens to the slow click of his roller coaster rising. When it falls, Ezra is suddenly subjected to a dynamic journey that he was not expecting.
The difference between a roller coaster and Ezra's life is that a roller coaster is safe and fun, with controls and an expected consequence. To understand Ezra's emotional journey through this metaphor, the metaphor should be tweaked; imagine waking up with no context on a roller coaster that harms one's physical body and threatens death (like the car crash at the party) with no memory of getting on the ride. Ezra is not just learning a lesson about high school popularity; he is becoming of age.
As a bildungsroman, the book is like a recipe which explains how Ezra came from his background, through his circumstances, and into his adult opinion of self. He thought he would be defined by athletic prowess and his natural leadership potential, but instead, Ezra is defined by his martyrdom of life. He is defined like Job in the Bible—not by what is given, but by what is taken away. In the end, this spiritual journey of becoming his adult self leads to a helpful catharsis; he determines that life can be appreciated as it comes. The book is a rallying cry against ableism and prejudice.
