Behind Her Eyes

“Pinch myself and say I AM AWAKE once an hour.

Look at my hands.

Count my fingers.

Look at clock (or watch), look away, look back.

Stay calm and focused.

Think of a door.”

These are the instructions for dream control found in Rob’s notebook and passed on by Adele to Rob to Louise. They are the first chapter of the book and are central to the characters’ being able to travel while asleep to where they want and to be able to enter other sleeping characters’ bodies at will.

“A thing had been done that could not be undone. A terrible necessary act. An ending and a beginning now knotted up forever.” 

This is part of the very short second chapter where, in a flashback, an unidentified man has just done something illegal in a forest. The reader later learns at the end of the book that this is Rob in Adele’s body, moving Rob’s body into the well in the Fairdale estate. This quotation sets up the mystery of who did what to whom, which is not answered until the end of the book.

“I love my husband. I have since the moment I set eyes on him, and I will never fall out of love with him. I won’t give that up. I can’t.” 

Adele expresses her undying love for David, and her determination to keep him. This occurs in the present when David comes home drunk after their earlier row, filled with loathing and disgust for Adele. This is an indication of her obsessive nature and the emphasis on the importance of physical beauty and appearance.