Perfect Strangers

“My libido died along with everything else that mattered. Except for yesterday, when a stranger’s searing blue gaze lit me up like a Christmas tree and sent shockwaves of heat pulsing straight through my core.”

Due to the graphic sexual content, the novel qualifies as erotica, emphasizing the novel’s play with several different genres. Olivia and James’s sexual chemistry drives the plot. James awakens Olivia’s “libido,” which, in turn, powers their relationship and the story.

“I couldn’t even manage the two syllables that would be required for ‘hello.’ This person is not healthy for me to be around.”

At the cocktail party, Olivia is awkward around James. Geissinger regularly uses Olivia to highlight the differences between a writer’s image and their reality, highlighting the theme of Shaping Reality Through Storytelling. Olivia works with words, but she often can’t find the right or concise words to describe James. As the story continues, this statement is revealed to have a double meaning: James isn’t “healthy” for Olivia because he’s a product of her mental illness.

“You’re a fiction writer. You make things up for a living. And you exaggerate more than anyone else I know.”

Kelly’s identity remains relatively stable throughout the novel. She’s Olivia’s good-humored sidekick in both her fantasy and reality. Her statement about Olivia’s profession is a clue to the twist and contributes to the metafictional aspect of the novel. Geissinger, too, is a “fiction writer.” She made up Olivia and Olivia’s fantasy.

“She uses the toilet, washes her hands, and leaves without a word, as if two lovers entwined in the entry of a restroom is completely unremarkable.”

The unnamed woman in the bathroom provides a humbling moment for Olivia and James. As she doesn’t stay and gawk at the couple, they become “unremarkable” instead of cinematic characters that exist in a series of sensationalized scenes.

“Chiseled, sculpted, carved, hewn…you name it, he’s all the adjectives there are for hard, masculine beauty. His chest is a masterpiece. His abs could make angels weep. This guy makes Michelangelo’s David look like something a first-semester art student at a community college glued together out of old newspapers and cat turds.”

Olivia uses alliteration to describe James’s “masculine beauty.” The words, like his looks, flow effortlessly. To double down on James’s rare handsomeness, Olivia returns to hyperbole. He’s simultaneously a work of art and beyond art. The excessive praise hints that he might not be real, hinting toward the theme of shaping reality through storytelling.

“[Y]ou ride that fat pierced anaconda, sister, and make sure you take good notes when you do, because from now on, I’m gonna be living for my daily episodes of Olivia Gets Her Coochie Spanked.”

In Olivia’s fantasy, Kelly can’t have sex with James; and in reality, Olivia can’t have sex with James. Thus, Kelly and Olivia share the same dream. More so, Kelly’s “daily episodes” quip links to the theme of shaping reality through storytelling, with people regularly editing their experiences to create content.

“The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.”

The quote comes from Dostoevsky’s novel The Brothers Karamazov, and for Olivia, James is the “something.” He revives Olivia’s spirit and sexuality in the fantasy, and in the center, he helps Olivia escape her disappointing life.

“I’ve never been this strongly attracted to a man before. The frightening thing is that it’s not only a physical attraction. I’m drawn to everything about him, from the way his eyes change with his mood and the light to the obvious depth of his intelligence and sensitivity.”

While sex is the primary focus, Olivia’s attraction to James isn’t exclusively bodily. She lists his traits and creates the ideal heterosexual man. The Chapter 29 twist adds another meaning. She’s “drawn to everything about him,” because she created him: James is her fantasy.

“I click ‘End,’ then throw the phone all the way across the room. It hits the wall with a clatter, splinters apart, then falls in pieces to the floor.”

The phone becomes a critical object in the story. Since Olivia breaks hers, she gives James a chance to buy her the government phone, which sets the stage for their shootout and escape. The scene also has a metaphorical meaning, as Olivia breaks the phone because she doesn’t want to communicate with anyone who might pull her from her fantasy.

“Get your shit together. This isn’t personal. This is sex. This is fantasy land. It’s nothing more than a summer fling.”

The repetition of “this is” emphasizes Olivia’s attempt to keep her relationship with James casual. She tries to confine her relationship with James to nonchalant labels but fails. At the same time, the relationship is a literal “fantasy land,” since she imagines it.

“You’re not responsible for his problems, so don’t grab them on.”

Kelly’s advice about how Olivia should deal with James’s alleged ALS reflects Olivia’s own ambivalence about her ALS. She doesn’t want people to “grab” onto her. She wants people to leave her alone so she can stay in her fantasy.

“Until September comes and you walk out of my life forever, we’re going to spend every day as if it’s our last. No regrets. No looking back or forward. Just being in the moment. Making every minute count. Making memories we both can treasure after we go back to our real lives.”

James’s statement serves as a thesis for his and Olivia’s relationship. They’ll focus on the present and glean as much pleasure from each moment as they can. The stress on the present conflicts with Olivia’s earlier statement about the permanence of the past.

“One of the few therapists I had who helped me in any real way once told me that people make the mistake of thinking that experiencing an emotion means you have to do something about it.”

The reference to a therapist creates a certain amount of transparency, hinting toward previous mental health issues. Olivia is honest about her mental health, but she doesn’t reveal the complete impact of her mental health until Chapter 29.

“My intuition tells me both of them are lying. Or is that my imagination, sculpting dragons out of passing clouds?”

Olivia’s realization that Chris and James are hiding the truth creates further drama, addressing the theme of The Pleasure of Mystery from a different perspective. Olivia needs to maintain the conflict and “dragons”; otherwise, she’ll return to the quotidian psychiatric center.

“I’d rather risk your hatred than your safety. So if you’re not back in New York within twenty-four hours, I’ll be forced to make that happen myself.”

In her fantasy, Olivia creates an ideal ex-husband who’ll go to great lengths to save her. Yet the Chris of the psychiatric center storyline isn’t egregiously negligent. He gets a wheelchair-accessible van and a hospital bed. Olivia characterizes Chris as toxic, but Chris’s main flaw is average self-interest.

“I think this phone and my ex-husband both know it was meant for him. Here’s another one plus one equals two moment: James also knows.”

By turning Chris into a politician who people try to assassinate, Olivia continues to counter his ordinary characterization in reality. The “one plus one equals two” is a play on the phrase “two plus two equals five,” which George Orwell popularized in his dystopian novel 1984 (1942). The latter also shows how words distort reality.

“There exists a field, beyond all notions of right and wrong. I will meet you there.”

This Rumi quote is shared between James and Olivia and applies to the moral ambivalence of Olivia’s fantasy and reality. In her fantasy, she falls in love with a man who kills people for a living. In reality, she evades her problems and escapes to a fantasy world. In both cases, the “notions of right and wrong” are unclear.

“Bring me that bastard’s head on a platter. Do that for me and I’ll tell you anything you want.”

Olivia’s directive alludes to the New Testament story of King Herod Antipas and his stepdaughter Salome (Mark 6: 17-29; Matthew 14: 3-12). After Salome dances for Herod, he promises to bring her John the Baptist’s head since John was critical of Salome’s mother. Olivia wants visceral, not enlightened, justice. In terms of her reality at the center, the quote suggests that she wants to die. Put bluntly, she’s the “bastard” who killed her daughter.

“When I look back at the wooden table, it’s gone, too. So is the chair I was sitting in, and the house, and the patio, and the garden, and the rolling fields of harvested lavender bushes, and all the beauty and tranquility of Provence. Everything has vanished.”

The long sentence and the repetition of “and” emphasize the sweeping shock of Olivia’s vanishing world. The diction and imagery create an apocalyptic atmosphere. In other words, Olivia’s fantasy world is over.

“He’s also short and paunchy, with the red nose and sallow skin tone one acquires through years of hard drinking. When I smile, thinking how funny it is that I’d made him so much more handsome and sophisticated in my hallucination, his eyes narrow.”

Olivia uses Chris’s looks to demonstrate the difference between her fantasy and reality. In the former, Chris is model-esque handsome; in the latter, he’s simply not attractive, reflecting the distance between Olivia’s fantasy world and her reality.

“Cold, horrible, actual reality, in which not only did I accidentally kill my child and I’m married to a man who likes beer way more than me, but also—wait for it—I’m dying.”

Olivia provides a primary reason for her “hallucination.” The fantasy countered her “horrible” truth. As Geissinger emphasizes Olivia’s unfiltered reality, she arguably creates literary fiction—a work that doesn’t sugarcoat the world.

“No one can offer you proof of reality, not even Einstein himself. But just because it can’t be proven doesn’t mean the sun won’t rise tomorrow. It will.”

Dr. Chevalier concedes the mutability of reality, which, in turn, makes it easy for people to manipulate. At the same time, he confirms the constant force of reality through the sun image, which alludes to the Hemingway novel The Sun Also Rises.

“I am thee and thou art me and all of one is the other. And feel now. Thou hast no heart but mine.”

The quote from Hemingway’s novel For Whom the Bell Tolls appears three times in the novel. The repetition underscores the all-consuming importance of James and the fantasy. Setting aside the Epilogue, he’s not real, yet he belongs to Olivia. He’s a part of her identity, and she’s real.