The Pigman

A man with a medical problem falls down a flight of stairs. A mother slaps her daughter across the face in anger; the daughter is afraid of her mother and tells others that the mom will beat her.

A teen boy and girl kiss on a bed after playfully chasing each other around the house. A mom is very worried about her daughter's safety and talks a good deal about dressing more conservatively and about how boys/men are only after one thing. The mom works as a nighttime nurse/caregiver for sick and elderly people, and she often mentions that her male clients, or a female client's spouse, has made suggestive remarks or moves on her.

Early in the novel, John -- who narrates alternate chapters -- explains that his co-narrator, Lorraine, feels he curses too much so he has decided to use type symbols to represent curse words. He types @#$% to represent mild cursing and 3@#$% in place of more rude cursing. It takes little imagination to read the words into the text, but the only actual curse word used in the book occurs when John tells his dad he wants to pursue a career as an actor, and his dad tells him, "Don't be a jackass."

Teens smoke cigarettes and consume beer and wine. John was encouraged to try beer at age 10, when he would drink what was left in beer glasses after his parents' parties. John's father is a reformed alcoholic who stopped drinking when he developed cirrhosis of the liver; John knows this but continues to drink -- daily it seems. John also smokes cigarettes, and his friend Lorraine gives him a hard time about it, asking him if he "wants to die." Mr. Pignati serves John and Lorraine homemade wine. At a party, John drinks passes out from excessive drinking.