Why do you think Quinn and his son are so ill-matched?

Quinn is "uneasy around the boy, troubled by the world in which he dwelled." Why do you think that is the case? Why do you think Quinn and his son are so ill-matched?

Quinn was so into himself, he couldn't look for the positives in his son. Since Quinn's love was music, he felt his son's love should be music. He couldn't look for the things they could have connected with. He didn't understand his son or why he was the way he was. I don't think, until the boy died, that Quinn had much desire to make a true connection. Even then, it took a while for Quinn to really connect with who his son was.

At the time of the boy's birth, Quinn was trying to make it in the music business. He was super focused on his goal. The boy needed lots of time, attention and patience, which Quinn did not have. He also showed no aptitude for music, which was a heartbreak to Quinn.
I think that the unstated autism-spectrum behavior that the boy exhibited could have been better understood and handled. It was never shown in the book that it had been diagnosed or dealt with. The mother of the boy had a more intuitive ability to work with her son that Quinn did. Quinn needed logical help in understanding his son.

Quinn's entire world was music. Traveling to be in different gigs. Trying to make a living. He did not understand the boys problem and did not care enough.

Father and son lived in two different worlds--or so Quinn thought until he "got to know" the boy after the boy's death. Thanks to Ona and the boy's relationship with her Quinn not only grew to know his son but also himself. I'm not so sure the two were "ill-matched" so much as not having an opportunity to know one another. They were isolated from one another; therefore, no real communication was taking place. Overall, I think the author revealed more similarities than differences between father and son.

The boy and Quinn saw the world differently. The boy liked order and lists. He was different from average kids his age so it was hard for Quinn to relate to him. Quinn's world revolved around his music career, which was not always orderly. Quinn would leave to play a gig on short notice and would come home late at night & sleep all morning. Quinns passion was his music. It is what was most important to him. He tried to share his passion with his son, but his son had his own interests that did not pertain to music. In a lot of ways, Quinn passion for music made him a poor father and husband.

I don't think Quinn and his son are ill-matched. I think as the novel progresses you find out more and more ways they are alike, including their enjoyment of Ona. I think the boy's fascination with bird song is his music and if he had lived to give the tape he was making to Quinn they may have realized that they had a common love of song.

I'm not so sure they were. The boy was proud of his father and his music and followed him in the news articles he found and saved. Quinn was short on emotions and did not know how to show them. He did feel the boy was different and seemed to worry about it. The boy wanted Quinn to turn his bird recordings into a "morning chorus" loud enough for Ona to hear. He did pay attention to everything Quinn showed him and he knew what to do with it. Quinn lived in his own world and the boy lived in his. More alike than different to me.