Quinn confesses to Belle: "I did fall in love with him. I did. But not till after he was gone." When and how do you think this happened?

Near the end, Quinn confesses to Belle: "I did fall in love with him. I did. But not till after he was gone." When and how do you think this happened?

Quinn didn't see the real boy until he saw and experienced him through Ona. Unfortunately, that was after the boy's death. He hadn't seen past the boy's being different, until he recognized the boy's passions. It was a gradual process as he slowly became aware of the beauty of his son, and as he let go of his own selfishness and guilt.

I agree with Marcia - his love for the boy developed slowly, over time, as he interacted with Ona. Ona helped him see his child with new eyes, and to see what a great kid he truly was. I'd think this kind of realization would be heartbreaking for a parent, to come to understand that their child was incredibly special, but only after it was too late.

There is nothing that enhances love like the retrospective view. Quinn's passion for music and determination to make a real living from that passion dominated his life and decision making. When he viewed his son along with his quirks after his death he saw that in many ways the boy was more like him than he realized. The boy was also driven by passions, however they were not musical ones that Quinn might have identified with early on.
I thought that the boy seemed to be on the autism spectrum and he was not the child that Quinn had in mind. Having him gone helped Quinn see how special an individual his son was.

What a tragedy for a parent not to enjoy their own child. I think that Quinn's own childhood and expectations of fatherhood set him up for failure. It was evident that the boy loved Quinn and I hope in time Quinn would see love as proof that his son would have connected with him had they been given more time.

Quinn was preoccupied with the boy's oddness, which made him uncomfortable. I hope that had the boy lived, he (Quinn) would have come to realize what a treasure his boy was.

As some have mentioned, Quinn was really not an adult when we met him, when he first met Ona, after his son had died. Quinn did not have the insight initially to appreciate what he had or what he lost. As Quinn interacted with Ona, as he gradually became more responsible to and for her, as he watched the relationships of Belle and Ted develop, and even as he watched the musicians group interact with each other and realized how he fit or why into it, he slowly began to put the pieces of his former life together and see the whole of not only himself, but of his son. It was then that he realized who the boy was, his character, and how much he, Quinn had truly missed. Quinn was a boy himself when we met him. Through the course of the novel he grows into a man who finally learns to see and to appreciate and to love the child he had but never knew.

Quinn never understood his son and probably was embarrassed by him. He wanted him to love music and appreciate it the way he did. Which is not unusual for parents to want their children to like what they like, but much harder to realize that your child is unique and perhaps quirky and not like "all the other kids." Always easier in hindsight to realize what you got wrong.

Quinn, like many people, had difficulty in loving what he did not "know." It was through Ona that he realized who his son really was and grew to love and appreciate him.

I think Quinn initially felt guilty that he didn't have the feeling for his son that a father should have. His passion and escapism was his music. This is what he truly loved and understood. His son was so different from even the average kid, that he had trouble relating to him. He attempted to get him interested in music as a way of bonding with him, but his son didn't have any interest in the one thing Quinn could relate to. Quinn was able to see his son through Belle's & Ona's eyes. He learned his son was a better working than the average kid and was passionate about things they same way Quinn was passionate about music. Quinn also had a good work ethic. Through his intereactions with Ona and Belle, he was finally able to see the joy the boy brought to their lives and how much he was like Quinn in a lot of ways.

That was such a sad confession for Quinn - a father who missed his opportunity to bond with his son. Seeing his boy through the eyes of another revealed to Quinn his loss. Up until that moment of truth for Quinn, he struggled to see a real connection with the boy but then we find out it was there all along (which Belle seemed to know but she could never convince Quinn). Chapter 25 was when the tears started flowing for me as it is revealed from the boy's perspective how much he wants to please his father but then Quinn was never privy to those thoughts or the boy's efforts on that fateful morning. And Quinn never discovered just how influential he had been on his own son's life.

I so agree with kellilee. Quinn didn't understand his son until he saw him through someone else's eyes. I also think the boy scared Quinn, he didn't know how to relate to him. Ona accepted the boy for what and who he was and through that Quinn learned to love him.

I think Quinn finally got to know his son through Ona and this is when he began to learn to love him. I don't think Quinn had the slightest idea how to relate to a child that seemed "different" and this kept him from becoming close to him.

Quinn did not know the real boy his son was and had to see that through someone else's eyes.

I find it sad that Quinn did not take the opportunity to bond with his son while he was alive. Yet, from the perspective of a parent who lost a child, I so often found a new aspect of my child to love, as I heard others talk about her. It is a special gift. Quinn received this gift through Ona.