Levi hears screams from his room at night and the tap of computer keys. Insisting that everyone call him Bo, he sleeps all day and doesn’t come downstairs for meals. Taciturn and disinterested, he immediately retreats to his room, closing the door. Even as he hopes that Boaz will revert to his old self once he is home, Levi is worried they will be disappointed. Dov and Reuben are excited at the prospect of having Boaz home again. Amanda has been cleaning their house for days, obsessing over making it perfect for Boaz’s return. Levi is concerned for his parents, Amanda and Reuben, and his grandfather, Dov. Eventually, Levi realizes that Boaz sometimes did not come home or make contact with his family when he was on leave. However, every time Boaz has returned for a visit, Levi has found him changed-less talkative, less outgoing. Levi has always felt inferior to his brother, who was good-looking, charming, smart, and athletic. Levi feels humiliated, wondering how people who never knew Boaz can be so excited about his return home. At a school assembly, the principal publicly thanks Boaz. As the small town celebrates Boaz’s imminent return as a hero, Levi is ambivalent about seeing his brother again after his three-year tour of duty in the Middle East. Having once idolized Boaz, he is conflicted about this they have drifted apart ever since Boaz enlisted in the marines instead of attending college as planned. The narrator, Levi Katznelson, admits that he no longer loves his older brother, Boaz. In her young adult novel The Things a Brother Knows (2010), Dana Reinhardt employs a tightly-controlled first-person narrative to explore issues of service, sibling affection, and post-traumatic stress.
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