Sprctatorship is a recurring idea in the book. Starting with the narrators, everyone in the novel is a spectator. The characters play a constant game of spying on each other. Everyone watches television. The neighbors are watching each other. The neighborhood boys are watching the girls. The teachers and the principal are watching the students. The community is watching the Lisbon family. The media is watching the suburb. The reader is watching everyone watching everyone else. This game of spying goes on even though nothing worth spying on ever happens. In addition, when something happens - when a girl commits suicide - no one is there to see it and no one can explain it.