The Stranger

“It was right then that Adam felt some kind of switch go off in his chest, as if someone had tripped the red digital timer on some movie bomb and now it had started to tick down. Tick, tick, tick, tick.”

Explosives are a key symbol in the text that represents The Destructive Power of Secrets. Here, Adam compares the threatening feeling of the stranger’s statement—that Corinne faked her pregnancy—to a bomb ticking down before it blows up. Adam predicts that this information is going to have catastrophic consequences in his life.

“He stared at Ryan and felt that overwhelming feeling he sometimes got when he looked at his boys—part pure joy, part fear of what could happen to them in this cruel world, part wishes and hopes, all blended together in the only thing in this entire planet that felt completely pure.”

Navigating the Role of Parent and Protector is a central theme, and this quotation explores the myriad emotions that parents feel toward their children. As his sons grow older, Adam struggles with how closely to protect them without smothering them, as he wants to shield them from the chaos of the world while also letting them have the experiences they want, not just the ones their parents want for them.

“Adam slept well most nights. Corinne was the one who stayed up and worried. Somewhere along the way, Adam had learned to not worry about what he couldn’t control, to let go. That had been a healthy thing, this ability to compartmentalize. Now he wondered whether it was an ability to let go or simply to block.”

This quotation showcases the differences in Adam’s and Corinne’s personalities. Whereas Adam is the laidback partner who can look at the bigger picture, Corinne is the more detail-oriented partner who focuses on the minutiae. Though there is a negative connotation to Corinne’s worrying, Adam sees how his nonchalance can be equally as unproductive, as it shields him from confronting issues he wants to avoid.