comment on language and meaning

Although this book is about kidnapping, rape, and abuse, these topics are not described with gory language, nor is the abuse a central focus. In fact, most of the sex acts in the novel are not described in any detail at all and are often disguised with euphemisms or leading phrases. For instance, when Eddison tries to ask Inara if she was a virgin before the Gardener raped her the first time, he is unable to quite get the question out: “‘The day he finished your tattoo, was that the first time, uh . . . the first time —’ / ‘I recited Poe?’ she finishes for him” (46). The reference to reciting Poe is used as a euphemism for sex because Inara told the men she recited Poe while she was being raped to take her mind off what was happening.