In the story, Crum explores how perception and memory are shaped by emotions, psychology, and outside influences, leading to the conclusion that reported truth is often colored by bias and wishful thinking. The use of dual narrative perspectives, two fragmented timeframes, and revelations coming only from partial recollections, emphasizes how easily individuals can misinterpret events and invent inaccurate versions of reality.

Benny’s present-day narration is heavily influenced by stress and emotional involvement, which makes his perception of events increasingly unreliable. When Joy—the love of his life—disappears, he becomes focused on interpreting clues through the lens of their past relationship, which sometimes leads to him assuming meaning where there is none. His judgment is also clouded by feelings of responsibility and guilt over not protecting Joy, which leads him to suspect people around him without clear evidence. At one point, he acknowledges his flawed cognitive state, admitting, “Time is an abstract concept I can no longer grasp” (135). His recall becomes selective; for example, what he remembers of his final conversation with Joy is based on assumption rather than certainty.

Joy’s memoir and present-day narration demonstrate how trauma affects memory and perception. Her experiences of abuse and her lifelong narcolepsy contribute to her fragmented experience of reality and moments of confusion. She is uncertain what happened the night of Xander’s death, questioning the gaps in her memories, admitting to misremembering key events like the fight with Xander, and not fully grasping that her interactions with Mitali are hallucinatory. Crum underscores Joy’s unreliability as a narrator by writing the memoir sections in shifting styles, as Joy alternates between diary-like reflection and direct address to podcast listeners and fans.

The novel reinforces this theme by withholding key information and thus shaping the reading experience. Alternating memoir excerpts and present-day chapters create gaps in reader knowledge; misleading clues prompt incorrect guesswork about the identity of Joy’s stalker (which Benny, and the reader, assumes is Ted and Emil) or the circumstances of Xander’s death. Near the story’s conclusion, these broken narratives are realigned to expose the difference between assumption and what actually occurred. The novel thus suggests that memory is at best a changing and often unreliable reconstruction of the past.