Love Shack

Love Shack is a song Mo and Evie sing together on a drive away from Grundy, where the B-52s’ music turns a shopping trip into a brief respite from Mo’s worries about Cooper. Paired with Rock Lobster, it helps shift the journey from awkwardness to shared playfulness.

Appearance in the Story

Evie coaxes Mo into the car with promises of mocha lattes and shopping malls. Although Mo initially finds the prospect of spending time together away from the Glacier strange, Evie turns up the B-52s during the long drive, and the two sing deliberately poor renditions of Love Shack and Rock Lobster. The songs belong to a light, companionable stretch of the trip rather than to a discussion of Mo’s concerns.

Function and Contrast

Singing gives Mo a way to avoid peppering Evie with questions about Cooper for two hours. The distraction is also a small change of atmosphere: in Grundy, practical conditions have pushed aside pretty shoes and hairstyles vulnerable to wind or a knit cap, while the drive toward Conover revives Mo’s interest in curling her eyelashes and talking about prom dresses. Love Shack thus accompanies a temporary return to silliness and girlish company, set against the rough, Spartan life Mo has grown accustomed to in Grundy.