81 pages • 2 hours read
Jordan SonnenblickNotes From The Midnight Driver
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2006A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 25-27Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 25 Summary: “Finale”
At the second benefit concert, Alex feels very nervous, especially because in the audience are the judge, his parents, and Laurie. He tells Steve and Annette how he is feeling and they both encourage him, talking about how much more “sensitive” (247) he is to the music. The three reflect on Sol’s influence on the ways that Alex hears and plays music, as well as how Sol has changed Alex’s behavior. Alex feels positive about the interaction and Sol gets wheeled in, ready to play despite the oxygen mask strapped to his face.
The concert begins smoothly. When the fifth song is slated to begin, Sol announces to the crowd that this is a “special song” (253) because Alex will be playing most of the melody and dedicates their playing “to the lovely girls in the front row” (253). As they reach the end of the medley from Fiddler on the Roof, Sol sings the words to “Sunrise, Sunset.” As the song ends, Alex sees the judge walking over, “crying” (255). The judge greets Sol as “Dad” (255).
Chapter 26 Summary: “Coda”
Several days later, Alex sits at Sol’s hospital bed, watching the heart monitor and thinking about what happened after the concert. Judy and her father, Sol, did reconcile; she visits him daily now. But Sol’s pneumonia had gotten worse, and he finally slipped into a coma, only waking up twice in the last three days of his life. During the last time, Sol tells Alex that “one day [Alex] will kiss her. And she will kiss you back” (258), as well as saying goodbye to Judy.
Chapter 27 Summary: “The Saints Go Marchin’ In Again”
Sol passes away, and at his memorial service, Alex is responsible for playing the music. Alex starts with a traditional funeral song, then plays “Sunrise, Sunset,” and finally bursts into “When the Saints Go Marchin’ In,” backed up by Steve and Annette. The funeral audience bursts into applause.
Alex writes a final letter to Judge Trent reflecting on his time with her father. He describes his positive work at school and how his parents' relationship has gotten better, as well as how Laurie has been reconciling with her mother. Finally, Alex expresses his intentions to “work full time at the Home” (265) over the summer.
Chapters 25-27 Analysis
In the concluding chapters to Notes from the Midnight Driver, Sonnenblick resolves several conflicts at once as Alex puts what he has learned into practice. Crucially, much of this resolution happens through music, both at the benefit concert and Sol’s memorial service. Although Alex’s guitar playing seems secondary in much of the plot of the novel, it ends up being the vehicle through which he can pay tribute to his friend and to the people around him, as well as to demonstrate his extraordinary personal growth. For example, Alex plays with enormous emotion and captivates the audience at the memorial service, a task that he might have previously felt was impossible. The shift in Alex’s personality shines in this performance: He sets aside his own thoughts and feelings to do something selfless, and he demonstrates the hard work he has learned to put into his musical practice.
Throughout the novel, Sonnenblick inserts Alex’s communication with Judge Trent as a way to reveal some of the underlying themes of the novel. In Alex’s final letters to the judge, he reflects deeply on his learning in a humble way. By inserting these personal narratives, Sonnenblick reveals the most honest version of Alex, with less sarcasm and avoidance than he demonstrates in both his narration and dialogue with other characters. In addition, Sonnenblick uses the letters to foreshadow early on how important Alex’s relationship with Sol will become—Alex writes routinely to the judge and reflects at length about what he has learned. Even though Alex’s early letters might lack emotional maturity, they suggest that he is thinking about his interactions with Sol and might eventually learn something as a result.
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