Seven Days in June

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Parts 6-7

Part 8-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Themes

Overcoming Generational Trauma

Eva’s family has passed down stories from generation to generation, but they’ve also passed down their pain. This is true on both a literal and metaphorical level: Eva has inherited her grandmother’s migraines, but she also seems to have inherited a “curse” of abandonment:

Their reputations were as wild and dramatic as their names—Clotilde and Delphine. Their lives had been affected by murder and madness, and mysterious rage […] As a little girl, Genevieve assumed that these were tall tales, half-truths. But her grandma and great grandma sounded fabulous, just the same (28).

As a mother to a daughter herself, Eva must balance how to celebrate their ancestors while not traumatizing her own daughter with the painful stories. To do this, Eva turns back to the stories, crafting them perfectly for her daughter. She tells Shane, “Look, Audre doesn’t know about any of this. She thinks Lizette’s a hero. I’ve…tweaked history a bit, ‘cause I want her to be proud of who she is” (151).

Eventually, Eva passes the truth down after doing what she wanted and going to Belle Fleur to research the truth about her family. They were victims of their time and place, unable to be themselves. She learns that her ancestors—Delphine, Clotilde, and Lizette—all faced racism and misogyny, and the men in their lives were all unreliable and oppressive. These men had suffocated the women’s identities—but for Eva, Shane does the opposite.

Instead of fabricating stories, acknowledging the past helps Eva change her future by letting Shane in and finding someone who accepts her as she is; this breaks these generational curses. Eva has trained herself not to expect anything from men, but she finds that depending on a man doesn’t destroy her own independence. As Eva researches her family, she learns that it wasn’t the women who were at fault; it was the men who couldn’t handle them as they were. Eva concludes that she is one of the first to get love right, and as her daughter begins to crush on a boy, she can set an example for her daughter that no one gave her before.

Disability, Identity, and Strength

Eva initially views her disability as an obstacle to her finding her identity and embracing herself for who she is, but she later embraces it as a pathway. For her entire life, Eva has had violent migraines. These migraines have stumped doctors since her childhood, and no one knew how to help her. She eventually tried anything, including drugs, to get relief. To others, her migraines were invisible:

[H]er disability was invisible-she wasn’t missing a limb or in a full-body cast. Her level of suffering seemed impossible for others to fathom. After all, everyone gets headaches sometimes, like during coffee withdrawal or the flu. So she hid it. All people knew is she canceled plans a lot (12).

While trying to navigate her career and other events, Eva often has to excuse herself to treat her pain. Only the people close to her know, including her editor Cece, and she goes to great lengths to hide her disability, afraid that others won’t understand. This even affects her as a mother. “The point is, I do a lot of mothering from the bed. Ordering dinner, checking homework, braiding her hair—all from bed. Physically I am limited” (216). This is more than a sickness, but rather something that dictates her whole life.

Even her daughter, Audre, recognizes how her disability affects her life. Audre explains to Shane, “My mom keeps a lot of stuff inside, but her thoughts are really loud. I know she’s been scared and lonely […] And please, just be patient with her. [… S]he can’t help being sick” (263). Not only is this part of Eva’s life, but those close to her as well. While the disability is invisible to others looking in, it is fundamental for those who care about her and requires patience and kindness. Eventually, she decides to Share her disability and not hide behind the lies anymore. When Eva finally tells others about her disability, she feels “exhilarated. Just by that one small (huge) admission! She felt unburdened, unshackled” (297).

Finally, Eva feels liberated by no longer hiding behind her lies and sharing her true experience. Not only has she spun stories about her family, but about her sickness. Now that she has told the truth and is free, she can find relief.

Pain, Self-Harm, and Facing Reality

Both Shane and Eva bond over their pain and their coping mechanisms. Shane broke his arm, and his foster mother rushed him to the ER, but she crashed on the way and died. After her death, Shane’s foster father couldn’t stand the sight of the boy who, he believed, killed his wife, so Shane was sent to another foster home. Since then, he has continually broken his arm. Eva cuts herself on her arms and shoulders using a blade. Shane first notices it when her mother calls, and, too overwhelmed, she locks herself in the bathroom. For both of them, they are trying to outrun their pain. The pain of abandonment and never feeling at home connects the couple.

‘Why do you do it?’

‘I don’t know. I got into a daze.’ She sounded far away again. ‘There’s a relief after.’

‘Does it hurt?’

‘That’s the point.’

‘Same with my arm,’ he admitted. ‘Hurts, but I need it. Like it’s the glue holding me together’ (135).

For the teenagers, the physical pain they feel helps them cope with their emotional pain.

As adults, they must learn to navigate their emotions and life without these coping methods, which they call their “vices.” They know that they were in a dark place as teenagers, and as adults, part of their conflict is facing their pain and dealing with it healthily. Shane has taken up running, and he “didn’t half-ass anything. He ran as hard as he drank” (114). However, this is not replacing one vice with another but trying to face his problems. For example, while running, Shane considered his meeting with Eva: “He’d been the one to make her cry. It was what he always did, destroying the people he loved the most, the things that made him happiest. […] He had to fix it. He couldn’t let that be the last time they saw each other” (115). Here, he is not running away after destroying something, nor is he avoiding conflict; he’s trying to work through his pain and change his coping mechanisms for the better.

Forced to figure out a new coping mechanism after an inpatient hospital stay, Eva turned to stories. Here, she could hide her pain behind the fiction and control it how she wanted. Eva’s ultimate development comes when she realizes that she no longer has to hide behind her stories, family, or even her Cursed series but can come out with the truth: “When the world fucks with us, the worst thing we can do is bury it. Embracing it makes us strong enough to fuck the world right back” (305). The real power comes from the truth, not making the pain into something more palatable.