Saunders uses the diary form to move the reader from place to place but also to see the life of this family through the somewhat disordered mind of the divorced father. The form easily lends to empathy because we are implanted inside the stream of his jumbled thoughts . The terse sentences are like a stream of consciousness that move us from one vivid scene to another and allows us little time to focus on one singular thought or scene or emotion. The father is financially strapped but loves his children dearly. The sentence structure mirrors the quick pace of his life and the many worries he has about the state of the home and how the children will grow into adulthood after being without in childhood. The use of exclamation points(!) and equal(=) and plus signs(+) provide a map for his thoughts but also shows the reader the formulaic way the protagonist things and perhaps shows some the emotional distance.