Child Simile
"I had run away like a child, instead of keeping control of the situation, as I thought I should."
The use of this simile is very revealing in the novel; Michael considers himself to have left childhood behind,and because of his feelings for Hanna, he believes that he is now an adult. Because of this he is frustrated by his own childlike reaction to a difficult situation, turning and running away as a kid would, instead of staying to face his fears and address something uncomfortable and difficult. It's also an ironic comparison as he is a fifteen year old boy saying that he had run away "like" a child, when in fact, he is still a child, but his circumstances have changed to convince him otherwise.
Pets Simile
"Sometimes I had the feeling that all of us in his family were like pets to him."
Michael does not feel that his father is interractive in his life in the way that a parent usually is with a child. Instead, it is as if the family are his father's pets, and that he can take them out and play with them when he feels like it, but when he is not amused by this anymore, he puts them in their "crate" and goes to do what really makes him happy. He cares for them, feeds and waters them, and makes sure they have whatever they need to be safe, warm and healthy, but does not nurture in the way in which Michael believes people generally bond with their family.
Dusty Chest Simile
"I asked her about her life, and it was as if she rummaged around in a dusty chest to get me the answers."
Hanna did not have her own biography in her mind to tell Michael about herself, but seems to be searching for answers amongst lots of other facts like one would search for a lost sock in a chest of other socks. She is searching in a dusty chest because it is so long since she gave these facts to anyone or thought about her own past history that it is undisturbed and dusty, not clean and fresh like it would have been if she regularly opened it to take a look.
Someone Else's Life Simile
"She told me all this as if it were not her life, but someone else's."
Hanna tells Michael her own history as if she were reading aloud from a book and reading to him the biography of someone else whom they both know. This comparison shows how disconnected she is from both her history, and from her feelings about it, telling from an observational way, rather than from an empirical one.
Itchy Feet Metaphor
"I was not the only one with itchy feet."
When Michael is excited and counting the days until his trip with Hanna, he is surprised that she is feeling the same. He says that he has "Itchy feet" which is a metaphor for needing to get moving and do something or go somewhere, a kind of metaphor for having wanderlust, and not wanting to stay in the same spot as usual but go and taste something different.
