The Lying Life of Adults tackles the endless battle between good and evil by addressing how the terms affect physical and mental spaces. Though evil is a term often used, the novel also equates evil with ugliness. Ugliness is both a physical and mental feature throughout the text. Giovanna, however, eventually learns that good and evil contain far more nuance than people seem to realize. By navigating goodness, evil, and ugliness as these terms affect different characters, Giovanna eventually understands far more about life by the end of the novel than anyone else. She steps into adulthood realizing just how hard and yet necessary it is to embrace struggle and, if possible, to let it go.

The novel’s central conflict begins when Giovanna overhears her father compare her features to her aunt’s. Though he doesn’t say it outright, Giovanna imagines her father thinks she is ugly because he calls his problematic sister ugly and crude and spiteful. Early on, as Giovanna is struggling with a changing body due to adolescence, she must also struggle with wanting her parents to perceive her as a good girl while also trying to determine why her features and personality might resemble the evil aunt her parents hate.