I'd only been back in California for a week and I was still adjusting to the new Marissa Cheng.
-- Narrator (chapter 1)

Importance: Shortly after her boyfriend Oren breaks up with her, Kathleen moves back to her hometown hoping to distract herself from her heartbreak, loneliness, and confusion. However, spending time with her mother Marissa only complicates her preexisting emotional struggles. While shopping for dresses in this scene, Kathleen finds Marissa's altered demeanor, behavior, and character not only disorienting, but unsettling. The moment establishes this relationship as a key source of narrative tension.

It was liberating to relinquish control.
-- Narrator (chapter 2)

Importance: Ever since her breakup, Kathleen has felt unmoored. She has returned to her hometown, hoping that being back in a familiar place amongst familiar people will resolve her internal unrest. What she soon discovers is that she has become unrecognizable to herself. Instead of resisting this self-estrangement, however, Kathleen embraces it. While looking at herself...