Bastard Out of Carolina Love Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #1

Love, at least love for a man not already part of the family, was something I was a little unsure about. Aunt Alma said love had more to do with how pretty a body was than anyone would ever admit […] (3.1)

So, this is the first moment in Bone's life where she is acknowledging that there are different ways of loving a person, and it's also a PG-rated nod toward sexual desire. The problem is, we know that Glen is never going to develop the paternal love for Bone that he should, and that instead he is going to sexualize his stepdaughter—merging two kinds of affections that really shouldn't be merged... assuming he is capable of feeling love to begin with, which is highly questionable for someone as narcissistic as he is.

Quote #2

"Yeah, Glen loves Anney. He loves her like a gambler loves a fast racehorse or a desperate man loves whisky. That kind of love eats a man up. I don't trust that boy, don't want our Anney marrying him." (4.5)

Trust the Eustis aunts. What exactly is "that kind of love"? Can you describe it without an addiction metaphor? Why might that be the kind of love that Glen feels for Anney, given what we know about Glen?

Quote #3

"She needs him, needs him like a starving woman needs meat between her teeth […]" (4.6)

Okay, maybe this isn't an addiction metaphor (or addiction simile, as it were), but still, there's this weird sense of need, or desperation, or necessity, or whatever you want to call it. But is it a happy need? What kind of love is it that can't be described positively?