Love, Mom

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, child sexual abuse, emotional abuse, physical abuse, addiction, and cursing.

“A hired group of actors will cause havoc and scream obscenities and desecrate one of Mom’s portraits, proclaiming E.V. Renge a devil. Because, you know, there’s no bad publicity.”

This passage is the first hint that the life of Elizabeth Casper—better known by her pen name, E. V. Renge—was not what it seems. The fact that Elizabeth’s funeral is a carefully orchestrated public relations stunt indicates that her identity and personal history are dramatically different from what her daughter, Mackenzie, suspects. This demonstrates The Fickle Reality of Literary Fame.

“I’m waiting for grief to strike me suddenly, sneak up on me, here, of all places, but it’s not happening. Not a tear. Not even sadness really, just bitterness.”

Mackenzie’s complicated relationship with her mother is at the heart of the novel’s mystery. Xander uses personification by attributing the human action of “sneaking up” to grief, which emphasizes Mackenzie's sense of anticipation and her lack of control over the emotions she expects to feel. This passage shows that she does not yet feel the grief she expects at Elizabeth’s death, emphasizing The Complex Nature of Grief and Trauma. It is ultimately revealed that the woman she believed was her mother was an impostor, perhaps explaining Mackenzie’s emotional distance.

“The thing with Ben is, he came from money but had zero merits. His only talent was his smile—dazzling, charming, cute or apologetic if needed. Whichever way it shined, it made people’s heads turn. It was his gift. That was about the only gift he had.”

This passage demonstrates that Ben’s distinct lack of talent and skill is obscured by his charisma, which has allowed him to form connections with all kinds of people. The novel shows that he pursued his future wife, Elizabeth, because he knew that her writing talents would make her successful later in life.