How we cite our quotes: (Section Break.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Your eyes were flicking nervously all over the place, not always able to meet my gaze. That edginess made you seem shy, made me like you even more. But there was still something about you, hovering in my memory. (1.39)
Ever have that creepy experience of meeting someone and wondering if you know them from somewhere? Try having it happen with a guy who abducts you. We later find out that Gemma's eerie recognition of Ty is more than just déjà vu.
Quote #2
My cheek was burning up beneath your touch. My jaw was set hard as I looked back at you. But I did remember. And that made it worse. I remembered laughing as you tilted and angled something on my head. I remembered the clothes, your back. I remembered how badly I'd wanted to kiss you. I shut my eyes. (8.61)
Gemma's vague memories of acting complicit in Ty's plan to abduct her kind of seem like those of someone who partied a little too hard and then woke up the next morning regretting it. She wasn't expecting to get drugged, but imagine the horror of realizing she recalls bits of the incident that changed her life—and that she just went along with Ty's plan.
Quote #3
It was so big, that view. I'll never remember it perfectly. How can anyone remember something that big? I don't think people's brains are designed for memories like that. They're designed for things like phone numbers, or the color of someone's hair. Not hugeness. (13.7)
Gemma's thoughts on memory and the vastness of the landscape kind of sound related to her limited experience. Obviously the desert is Ty's home, so he might feel differently than she does in this passage, but as someone who has grown up in the city where huge landscapes aren't exactly a thing, it makes sense that her brain might not be ripe for processing it.
Quote #4
Then I'd remember.
I'd start with waking up, with the feel of my thick down duvet around my shoulders and the softness of flannel pajamas on my skin. If I concentrated, I could almost hear the whir and grind of Mum making her morning coffee. I smelled the bitter richness of the grains boiling on the stove, the way the aroma used to waft under the crack in the door and into my bedroom. (25.4-5)
There's something really scary about Gemma being on the other side of the world in the middle of nowhere and being struck with memories of home, almost like where she's from doesn't even seem real. She can recall the sensory details of her home, but ultimately they fade when she realizes where she really is.
Quote #5
I tried for Mum next, but even she was hard to see. I could remember her red dress, which she liked wearing to gallery openings, but I couldn't remember her face. I knew her eyes were green, like mine, and her features delicate … but somehow, I couldn't put the pieces back together.
It frightened me, this amnesia, and I hated myself for it. I felt like I wasn't worthy of being anyone's daughter. (25.6-7)
It has to be pretty horrifying to not only be kidnapped and taken from your home but then gradually realize you're forgetting the people there who meant the most to you. Gemma's guilt is probably a slight exaggeration, but it makes sense that she would blame herself for not holding onto memories hard enough.
Quote #6
I searched my memory, trying to find your face anywhere in it. There was nothing specific, but there were hazy, half-remembered things; like the man my friends saw once waiting outside the school gates, and that time in the park when I thought I saw someone watching in the bushes … the way Mum was paranoid about someone following her home. Was that you, I wondered? Had you been watching me that long? (30.46)
It seems like the more Gemma is around Ty, the more she remembers his appearances in her past. There's something scary about how she has a history with the guy who abducted her and is only gradually remembering it.
Quote #7
I slid down the wall, once again shocked by what you knew about me. Your eyes were searching into mine, refusing to believe that I couldn't remember. You spoke slowly, as if by doing so you were forcing the memory into my head. (37.22)
Ty seems almost bent on getting Gemma to remember his brief appearances in her life. In a way, it's like he's trying to exert control over her memories—having showed up throughout her childhood, he now wants her to own those recollections.
Quote #8
Like that, half-asleep, edges of memories came: Anna's face when she first told me she was going out with Ben, Mum arriving through the door with takeout for dinner, Josh asking me on a date. (46.1)
Gemma's mind seems to be at war with itself, both trying to keep memories from home alive and recall what Ty says about having been in her past. What's funny is that both seem distant to her, as though recalling memories is made more difficult by her ordeal.
Quote #9
A photograph fell out, too, landing in my lap. I picked it up. It was faded and old, slightly crumpled around the edges. It was of a girl, about my age, holding a baby tight to her chest. She was staring boldly at the camera, as if challenging the person taking it. I gasped a little as I studied her long dark hair and green eyes. She looked a little like me. (48.32)
The photograph of Ty's mom is a reminder that while Gemma might be trying to deal with memories of Ty's presence at home, he has his own baggage to deal with. Having been abandoned by his mom both as a child and an adult, this picture pretty much has to be all Ty has left. And then, there's the creepy reality that Gemma looks a lot like her. Ugh.
Quote #10
"Is that when you found me?" I asked quietly. "Back in London, after you couldn't find your mum?"
You didn't answer. Instead you stomped across the veranda and jumped down into the sand. You threw a punch at your punching bag then crouched over into yourself and threw several more […] Then you slammed both arms against the bag and headed out to the Separates […] Sometime later, from inside the rocks, I heard the echo of a sound that could have been your scream. (48.50-51)
Gemma might be struggling to keep memories of home alive, but Ty has genuine anguish from his own past and it's pretty clear that his plot to abduct Gemma is part of that. Maybe it's because she reminds him of his mom or maybe it's just because she represents the purity and innocence that was stolen from his own childhood. Either way, this guy has serious issues.