“Most people come to New York to be discovered. The rest of us come here to hide.”

Lowen contemplates what draws her and others like her to New York City. She values the anonymity the city provides as she attempts to avoid the trauma that she carries with her. This represents Lowen early in her journey as she self-isolates to protect herself.

“It’s hard to say why I have such a deeply crippling aversion to other humans, but if I had to wager a bet, I’d say it’s a direct result of my own mother being terrified of me.”

Lowen reflects on the origins of her avoidant tendencies. She is self-aware enough to trace her issues to her complicated relationship with her mother. Hoover sets up Lowen’s difficult backstory and builds suspense throughout the novel as Lowen slowly opens up to Jeremy and shares the reasons for Lowen’s sense of self-doubt.

“It’s why we broke up—because I refused to choke him. But sometimes I wonder where I’d be had I entertained the urge. Would we be married now? Would we have children? Would he have moved on to even more dangerous sexual perversions?”

Lowen reflects on an ex-boyfriend from her early twenties. She often wonders what her life would be like if she had given in to her boyfriend’s more violent sexual desires. Sex features heavily throughout Hoover’s novel as a representation of more violent, raw, and animalistic urges. Verity serves as a representation of this in her autobiography as she recounts her sexual escapades with Jeremy in incredible detail.