Contents
Seeing August
Overview
Via describes how a month with Grans in Montauk briefly let her see August as strangers do, opening a painful awareness of his appearance. Soon after, Grans dies unexpectedly. Remembering Grans’s secret—calling Via her "everything"—gives Via solace and a sense of being seen amid a family focused on August.
Summary
Via reflects that she never saw August the way strangers did; she resented their horrified reactions and defended him. At eleven, she spends four weeks with Grans in Montauk while August undergoes major jaw surgery, savoring anonymity and carefree attention.
Returning home, Via has a fleeting shock: as August runs to hug her, she momentarily sees him as others do—fixating on drool and feeling horrified. The instant passes with August’s laugh, but it opens a "peephole" for Via between her loving view and the world’s view.
Via considers confiding in Grans at Thanksgiving, but Grans dies suddenly of a heart attack before they can speak. The loss shatters the family; Via vividly recalls Mom collapsing in grief at the hospital.
Via holds to a final Montauk memory: watching a sunset as Grans confides a secret—that though she loves August, he has many angels, and Via is her "everything." This affirmation becomes a private comfort that helps Via feel seen within a life centered on August’s needs.
Who Appears
- Via (Olivia Pullman)Narrator; experiences a brief, painful shift in seeing August, grieves Grans, and treasures Grans’s secret affirmation.
- GransVia’s grandmother in Montauk; offers unconditional attention, then dies suddenly; tells Via she is her “everything.”
- August (Auggie) PullmanVia’s brother; returns from jaw surgery; his joyful hug triggers Via’s fleeting outsider view.
- Mom (Isabel Pullman)Drives with Via to the hospital; collapses in grief after Grans’s sudden death.