Tangerine: Full Book Summary

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Paul Fisher is a seventh-grade boy from Houston, Texas. He is about to move to Florida with his family because his father got a new job as a civil engineer there. His father and brother Erik are already at their new house, while Paul and his mother complete the last rounds of packing before they drive to Florida together. As Paul looks around, he has a flashback to when he was a five-year-old boy. He remembers someone with a ski mask chasing him down the street with a bat and later crying to his parents that it was his brother, Erik. Erik, however, was at home on the couch at the time, which left Paul confused.

Paul is not confused about his sight, however. Paul is painfully aware that he is partially blind after an accident that occurred around the time of the memory about the attacker. He’s been told he went blind after looking at an eclipse for too long, but he can’t actually recall staring at the sun, a detail that has always left him uneasy. As Paul and his mother arrive in their new housing development, Lake Windsor Downs, he notices how out of place the community looks among the citrus fields and agricultural wastelands. He does admire the scent of the oranges in the air, though.

The Fishers settle into their new life in Lake Windsor. Mrs. Fisher sets her sights on fighting the constant muck fires that are burning down the street. Mr. Fisher focuses solely on establishing Erik’s football career at Lake Windsor High as a star placekicker and doesn’t pay attention to Paul’s life at all. Erik focuses on recruiting his team, both on and off the field. Erik is a bully and finds himself a right-hand man, Arthur Bauer, to be his holder on the field and to carry out his dirty work off the field, terrorizing others and robbing homes. Erik’s brutal character is slowly revealed over the course of the story, and at one point, he callously makes fun of a teammate who gets struck by lightning at practice.

Paul knows that he’s going to continue to be ignored in his family, just as he was back in Houston. His parents aren’t as interested in his dreams and goals as they are in Erik’s. Paul hopes to play goalie on the soccer team at Lake Windsor Middle School, but his mother signs him up as an IEP student because of his impaired eyesight, and his coach, Coach Walski, quickly kicks Paul off the team, citing that he’s an insurance risk. Paul is devastated. But when a sinkhole damages much of the school, Paul is transferred to Tangerine County Middle School, and his dreams are saved. He becomes a member of the soccer team at the school, the War Eagles, and makes fast friends with classmates Theresa Cruz and her twin brother, Tino, who is also on the War Eagles. Paul feels elated after he makes a few great plays and establishes himself on the team. Paul admires the Cruzes’ tight-knit family and their work ethic, which is a far cry from his own disjointed family.

Crisis hits when Erik hits Tino in the backyard of the Fishers’ home. Erik strikes Tino so hard, Paul worries he’s dead. When Luis, Tino’s older brother, comes to Erik’s practice to avenge Tino’s injury, Arthur sneak attacks him and hits him on the head with a blackjack. Paul witnesses this attack while hiding in the bleachers, and he carries the weight of the truth for some time. Luis suffers an aneurysm that leads to his death a week later. Devastated and shaken, Paul starts having more and more flashbacks about the time he went blind. He’s also becoming less fearful of his brother, who people are noticing is bad news. Paul’s parents begin to notice, too. Mrs. Fisher discovers Erik is behind the recent robberies in the neighborhood.

Erik is finally confronted for Luis’s death by Tino, Luis’s brother, and Victor, Paul’s teammate on the War Eagles. Tino and Victor attack Erik at the Senior Awards Ceremony, breaking Erik’s nose and mangling his sidekick Arthur’s face. Paul realizes this is his moment to act, and he lunges into the melee to tackle Coach Warner so that Tino and Victor can escape. Mr. Fisher becomes incensed with Paul for such behavior. Paul runs from the school before he’s forced to reveal what he knows about Erik.

Paul runs to his neighborhood, where he has one final confrontation with Erik. During the standoff, Paul stares Erik in the eyes, eyes that are swollen from the blows received at the ceremony. Paul tells Erik he knows they killed Luis, and Erik and Arthur drive away. A series of visual and auditory clues occur during this interaction that trigger one final flashback of what really happened the day Paul went blind. Paul remembers that Erik had his friend Castor spray-paint Paul’s eyes one day in the garage because they believed Paul tattled on them for spray-painting the neighborhood. Armed with this newfound truth, Paul goes home and confronts his parents. Dumbfounded, they admit it’s true and that they lied to Paul because they didn’t want him to hate Erik. Mr. Fisher hangs his head in shame.

Later that week, Mr. and Mrs. Fisher invite all their neighbors to a meeting at their home. Once everyone has gathered, they reveal that Erik and Arthur, both of whom are in the house, were behind the recent rash of home thefts. They give their neighbors back the items they’ve recovered, offer to pay for items they can’t find, and ask that each person sign a restitution statement designed to prevent Erik and Arthur from going to jail. However, during the meeting, the police arrive to arrest Arthur for Luis’s murder. Earlier that week, the school’s star football player, Antoine Thomas, had collapsed with guilt and had come clean about witnessing the attack. Antoine had urged Paul, whom he saw hiding under the bleachers that day, to come clean too.

Paul gives his statement to the police, incriminating Erik and sealing Erik’s fate as a coconspirator to murder. Paul is finally relieved of his fear of Erik and feels revived with his newfound sense of courage. He’s expelled from school for assaulting the coach during the award ceremony, so his mother enrolls him in a Catholic school. As the novel closes, it’s Paul’s third “first day of school,” and Paul is driven to school by his father for the first time.

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