People Watching

“The most important rule when caring for someone with early-onset Alzheimer’s is and will always be: Play along. If you threaten their understanding of their current reality, they will panic. You want to avoid panic.”

Prue thinks this when her mother arrives in the kitchen believing that it is, yet again, her wedding day. These lines highlight the experience that Prue has gained in caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s, bolstered by the author’s firsthand experience. Prue’s frustration and sorrow are also evident in the subtext of this quotation: While she understands what she must do, she dislikes that her mother has gotten to this place. This initial scene sets up the return to the wedding day in the Epilogue, which illustrates how Prue has changed over the course of the novel.

“Men are lured to their death by beautiful creatures time and time again in mythology. Different legends call them by different names: sirens, nymphs, pixies, faeries, rusalki. But the result is the same—death at the hands of a beautiful creature, too alluring to deny.”

Milo thinks this the first time he sees Prue. This is the first time he has experienced a more-than-physical pull toward someone he finds attractive, and his references to mythology show an attempt to frame this new experience. The fact that he chooses examples that are all tales of men being lured to their death highlights his belief that love is a dangerous force that can only bring about his downfall, illustrating the theme of The Effect of Past Trauma on Emotional Growth.