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Natalie?
Rusty?
Mason?

Steve?
I think because he was absolutely bereft by the loss of Kathy but because very few people knew about them - they were in the very early stages of what might have become a relationship - he didn't really get to mourn properly. No one really acknowledged that he was suffering and needing to mourn so he had no one to talk to about it. Only Kathy's roommate knew there was a boy she liked, but few people seemed to put two and two together. He had to do his crying alone.
It also shows, I think, what we expect of men - even more so back then - that he had to be strong and silent in the face of that much grief. Natalie's breakdown got more attention and, although maybe not the right kind, at least she did get some kind of help.
I thought his ending was really dark. Just a couple of lines at the memorial event but quite devastating.

I think that Natalie and Steve were affected the most dramatically as the events happened at a time when their comfortable and secure family was undergoing a change at its very core. With their parents in the midst of a split, the children are swept up by uncertainty, and the disasters affected them more deeply.

Miri could of been affected similarly, but I think that because of her strong bond with her uncle she processed the events more logically, as a journalist would do - focussing on the facts rather than the emotional side of them.

I agree with your comment about Steve - all very much swept under the rug - as though he was a lost cause.

Yes that's a good point about Natalie and Steve too, you didn't really get a sense that they were close as brother and sister so when it all fell apart they didn't even have each other to turn to. That family was a collection of individuals whereas Miri's were closer.

Oops I meant to write ' 'as' though he was a lost cause

It was very interesting how Steve felt understood by Daisy, as though if someone in his family had paid more attention to him and given him love and support then he would of flourished and worked through his grief

I think most of the main characters were affected just as bad but in different ways. I think Steves wife seemed loving and supportive but she was dealing with the same things he was. I like her charactor better then Miris mom, I never felt close to her charactor. She was a great mom but I felt she was cold and uptight to people outside of her family, except her close friends. Initially, I didnt like Irene too much either, but she was a Great grandma. I felt she was uptight and generally, I felt they were all loving within their clan but cold to outsiders. Granted this was the 50s, uptight times. Even the brother Henry seemed to view his fiance Leah as second fiddle, I felt. (Spoiler)When the plain crashed, he wasnt even showing concern for her after what she saw. And what was the big deal that miris boyfriend mason mentioned that his mom was Jewish? He probably felt they woukd accept him more after finding that out. I liked Henry but I felt he liked Leah rather then loved her. It didnt seem like she was the main women (or one of the main women) in his life.

Excuse my poor typing. Im using a touch screen.

J.C. wrote: "Yes that's a good point about Natalie and Steve too, you didn't really get a sense that they were close as brother and sister so when it all fell apart they didn't even have each other to turn to. ..."

I think they wereca good family but I think having children of different ages, sometimes they dont have that bond. Plus tgey werecall affected in different ways and not much help to one anotger. I think blume was just tryi g to show things arent what they are on the surface. Miri saw them as the perfect famiky. She envied having a little sister and probably a mom that didnt have to work and who coukd afford to buy her nice clothes and a cook/housekeeper. But no family is perfect and all have problems. Miris family seemed onlyy loving to one another but cold to outsiders. Even Leah seemed to be treated as second fiddle by her fiance, later husband. Your wife should be the main women in ur life not ur niece, doesnt mean u love ur niece any less. I didnt like how miris grandmother yelled at leahs aunt for making a speach that mentioned bribging children to visit.