Fire
Fire is a common theme in the book, and it ties much of the plot together. The passages that preface each section concern fire. Brian is a firefighter. Jesse sets fires. Kate's illness can be compared to a fire because it is out of control and destroys everything in its path. Anna compares her initiating the lawsuit to fire. Brian says a fire should be allowed to burn unchecked. He is referring to Kate's illness in that they should let it run its course without interference. He uses fire to make points in conversations with his coworkers. Brain connects fire to the story of Pandora 's Box and hope. Hope is what he has left as Kate's father. He is trying to put out the home fires, which include Kate's illness, Anna's lawsuit, Sara's stubbornness, and Jesse's troubles. Julia puts out the fire Brian starts in the kitchen; and in her role as guardian and sister, she tries to put out fires. She also rescues Campbell.

I found this theme on a discussion page about the book. I would have to agree a lot with this. Fire can best describe this book because fire cannot be tamed, its powerful, and hard to make it go away in some cases. For Kate, fire can stand for her disease because it takes a long time to make it go away, and you need to keep adding water(more treatments) to make it go down(go away). For Brian of course, he is a firefighter so it fits perfectly well. For Jesse, He does start a fire which causes more stress over the family. For Anna, She compares the lawsuit to fire; putting a fire on her parents. For Julia, she is always trying to help with Kate's illness or you could say she is just "putting the fire out". Lastly, Sara is the mother who has been tyring to make this fire go away her whole life, but hasn't been able to.