The Past

Throughout the novel, the author considers the ways in which loss might dictate the course of the individual’s life via explorations of Bee’s past. Indeed, throughout the months and years preceding the narrative present, Bee has experienced a succession of losses, betrayals, and disappointments that have upset her sense of self. The most recent hurt that Bee has experienced at the novel’s start, is the end of her relationships with Tim and Annie. Indeed, she opens the novel remarking that Marie Curie’s story has taught her that “trusting people to stick around is a bad idea. One way or another they’ll end up gone” (2). She particularly believes this notion, because her fiancé Tim had an affair with her best friend Annie only six months before they were supposed to get married. Tim’s and Annie’s betrayals excised two of...