How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"You in trouble," she says, yawning. "Deep, deep trouble. Can't rival the dead for love. Lose every time." (1.30)
Violet gets some wise words here: Those that are dead or those that are missing get obsession, whereas those who have stuck around merely get some affection. Dorcas will live on as young and beautiful, at least in the mind of Joe. She's just the first person in this novel whose presence in absence is stronger than her presence.
Quote #2
For Violet, who never knew the girl, only her picture and the personality she invented for her based on careful investigations, the girl's memory is a sickness in the house—everywhere and nowhere. (2.2)
The only thing worse than a New York City roach infestation is a ghost infestation, and Violet and Joe's apartment is haunted. Maybe it's a bad idea to put the picture of a dead girl your husband had an affair with and then shot on the mantelpiece. Maybe? Unless it brings you closer to your husband somehow, which, in the screwy dynamic that is Violet and Joe's marriage, totally happens.
Quote #3
He remembers his memories of her; how thinking about her as he lay in bed next to Violet was the way he entered sleep. He minds her death, is so sorry for it, but minded more the possibility of his memory failing to conjure up the dearness. (2.3)
Aw, dang. Memories are one thing, but memories of memories? Joe is getting a little memory-melodramatic (memodramatic?) here. He also sounds a little psychopathic when he laments the possibility of conjuring her more than, you know, he does killing her. But in a book where life is fleeting and so many people disappear in a puff of smoke, the memory of a person can be as dear as the person themselves.