How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
I fast-walked down Overlook Road in the dark, thinking of Charlie, boiling. F*** Charlie. Stupid asshole. Stupid roses. Stupid pagoda. Stupid losers. Stupid boots giving me stupid blisters. Stupid Vera Dietz. (3.9.82)
Well, that Valentine's Day surprise didn't turn out as intended. Instead of taking Vera out for a romantic evening, Charlie just drags her up to the Pagoda and ditches her for his loser friends. Smooth move, Romeo.
Quote #8
We are realizing, simultaneously, that we have never dealt with Mom leaving. We pretended—like role-playing—but we never really did anything about it. (4.1.27)
It's been years since Vera's mom left, but she and her dad never really get a chance to explore their feelings about it until they go to therapy together. It's an uncomfortable experience, but maybe they need to talk—or at least think—about it in order to move on.
Quote #9
She denied me. For all those years, as I paid her medical bills, as I filled in her 1040s and helped her with Medicare paperwork and her will. As I bought her a hospital bed, an oxygen machine, and paid for the nurse who helped her at the very end. Even as I arranged to have her cremated—her final wish—she denied me. (4.2.18)
Ken Dietz understands Vera's feelings of motherly abandonment more than she'll ever know. At his mother's funeral, he found out that she'd told all her friends that she had only two sons… excluding him. How do you cope with that kind of revelation when you've tried so hard to be a good son?