Long Shot

“I am the devastation left in his wake. As the world goes black, I see stars. A flash of brilliance. A light I should have acknowledged long ago. As the stars dim and the darkness encroaches, I understand I’m like those who stayed too long, blindly assuming their survival. I fear that I, like them, will not live to regret it.”

In the Prologue, Iris compares her abusive relationship with Caleb to a hurricane. This metaphor captures the devastation that Caleb’s violence creates in Iris’s life. The figurative language she uses underscores the negative psychological and emotional effects that Caleb has on her. Diction like “black,” “dim,” “darkness,” “encroaches,” and “blindly” evoke notions of fear and powerlessness, which echo Iris’s experience within this subjugating relationship.

“Her heart-shaped face is arresting, a contrast of fierce and delicate. She has high cheekbones and dark brows that slash over a button nose and hazel eyes. Hazel is too flat a word to describe all the shades of green and brown and gold. I’ve never seen eyes quite like these. Several colors at once. Several things at once. I wonder if the girl behind them is as multidimensional.”

August’s first impression of Iris conveys his instant attraction to her. He is attuned to her body, figure, stature, and demeanor. He notices not only her “face,” “cheekbones,” “brows,” “nose,” and “eyes” but also her simultaneous “ferocity” and “delicacy.” This detailed passage of description conveys the depth and authenticity of August’s interest in Iris. He doesn’t simply see her as a beautiful woman but as a complex, powerful individual. This meet-cute ignites their friends-to-lovers romance.

“I’ve always plotted my path in the opposite direction of my mother’s. Independence. Not relying on a man. Making my own way. If there’s one thing I know about my course, it’s that I have to stay on it.”

Iris’s complex upbringing and maternal relationship inform her ongoing Journey Toward Self-Empowerment. Iris wants to live an independent life not only because she is a self-reliant individual but also because she does not want to repeat her mother’s mistakes. She is terrified of “relying on a man” after witnessing how disempowering such imbalanced relational dynamics were for her mother.