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Mr. Hurd
Mr. Brook is Joseph Brook’s abusive father. A plumber, Mr. Brook brings young adolescent Joseph to work with him in the summers. When Joseph stops going to work with his father to spend time with the girl he likes, Madeleine Joyce, Mr. Brook beats him. After Joseph impregnates Madeleine, a social worker, Mrs. Stroud, investigates the Brook home. Ultimately, she decides to remove Joseph from Mr. Brook’s care and place him in foster care. Mr. Brook has a selfish, cynical, and resentful attitude toward Joseph, Joseph’s baby daughter Jupiter, and Joseph’s new foster family, the Hurds. He insists that the Hurds must be fostering Joseph to collect checks from the foster care system. When Mr. Hurd tells him that the Hurds are putting all the foster care checks into a college fund for Joseph, Mr. Brook becomes resentful of the idea that Joseph might attend college and think himself superior to his father. Mr. Brook holds up Jupiter’s adoption in an attempt to extort Madeleine’s parents and get money from a for-profit adoption. Eventually, Mr. Brook shows up at the Hurds’ house drunk, kidnaps Joseph, and drives himself and his son off a derelict bridge, causing their deaths.
Mr. Brook Quotes in Orbiting Jupiter
The Orbiting Jupiter quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Brook or refer to Mr. Brook. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 2
Quotes
“You have him shoveling manure, too? Is that what you get out of this? A bunch of kids who have to shovel manure for you?”
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The winter I was six, I saw a yellow dog on thin ice on the Alliance. I was with my mother, and we were walking back from a breakfast potluck at First Congregational before it became old First Congregational. The yellow dog was out farther on the ice than Joseph, but not much, and it had fallen through and its eyes were huge and it was grabbing on with its front paws, scratching, looking for something to hold onto. It wasn’t making a sound. I told my mother we had to go get it, but she held my arm so I wouldn’t go down to the river.
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“He came onto the ice for me,” said Joseph.
My father turned his face slowly toward Joseph. “That’s what we’ll be talking about,” he said.
Chapter 4
Quotes
Madeleine Joyce was thirteen years old when she met Joseph Brook. She lived in a house that had pillars in the front and a wing on each side and statues on the lawn. Her father and her mother were both lawyers, so she spent a lot of time by herself in that big house when she wasn’t away at her prep school. Sometimes she had a nanny who lived in the north guesthouse, sometimes not.
She never asked him why his face looked so beat up.
He was going to be a father, he said.
He was only thirteen, she said again.
“I’m alone,” he said.
“You’ve got me,” I said.
He laughed, but not a happy laugh. “Jackie, I’m a whole lifetime ahead of you,” he said.
Chapter 6
Quotes
You know what happened when Mr. Brook put his hand on Joseph’s back?
Joseph flinched.
But he went into the living room with his father anyway.
“And who do you think you’re kidding? You know you’ve got a sweet deal going. You get your check from the state every month to keep my kid. You’re in this for the money.” He pointed to Joseph. “You know you’re just a job for them? You are nothing but income.”
Chapter 8
Quotes
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
And that’s when I started crying. Crying like a kindergarten kid in front of everyone. Crying because Joseph wasn’t just my friend.
I had his back.
And he had mine.
That’s what greater love is.
Get the entire Orbiting Jupiter LitChart as a printable PDF.
Mr. Brook Quotes in Orbiting Jupiter
The Orbiting Jupiter quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Brook or refer to Mr. Brook. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 2
Quotes
“You have him shoveling manure, too? Is that what you get out of this? A bunch of kids who have to shovel manure for you?”
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
The winter I was six, I saw a yellow dog on thin ice on the Alliance. I was with my mother, and we were walking back from a breakfast potluck at First Congregational before it became old First Congregational. The yellow dog was out farther on the ice than Joseph, but not much, and it had fallen through and its eyes were huge and it was grabbing on with its front paws, scratching, looking for something to hold onto. It wasn’t making a sound. I told my mother we had to go get it, but she held my arm so I wouldn’t go down to the river.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
“He came onto the ice for me,” said Joseph.
My father turned his face slowly toward Joseph. “That’s what we’ll be talking about,” he said.
Chapter 4
Quotes
Madeleine Joyce was thirteen years old when she met Joseph Brook. She lived in a house that had pillars in the front and a wing on each side and statues on the lawn. Her father and her mother were both lawyers, so she spent a lot of time by herself in that big house when she wasn’t away at her prep school. Sometimes she had a nanny who lived in the north guesthouse, sometimes not.
She never asked him why his face looked so beat up.
He was going to be a father, he said.
He was only thirteen, she said again.
“I’m alone,” he said.
“You’ve got me,” I said.
He laughed, but not a happy laugh. “Jackie, I’m a whole lifetime ahead of you,” he said.
Chapter 6
Quotes
You know what happened when Mr. Brook put his hand on Joseph’s back?
Joseph flinched.
But he went into the living room with his father anyway.
“And who do you think you’re kidding? You know you’ve got a sweet deal going. You get your check from the state every month to keep my kid. You’re in this for the money.” He pointed to Joseph. “You know you’re just a job for them? You are nothing but income.”
Chapter 8
Quotes
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
And that’s when I started crying. Crying like a kindergarten kid in front of everyone. Crying because Joseph wasn’t just my friend.
I had his back.
And he had mine.
That’s what greater love is.
