The Irony of Fish Surviving
When Fish nearly drowns at the beginning of the story, he does in fact get a small taste of death. His mom uses her magic to bring him back to life, but the damage is done. He spends the rest of his days longing to drown again.
The Irony of Rose's Bulimia
Mental illness is much more likely to affect people of higher intelligence but in specific ways. Highly intelligent people are extremely prone to depression, schizophrenia, and other personality disorders. In Rose's case she has bulimia, which is almost certainly not a result of her intelligence. She can see the affects of her diet upon her body, but she refuses to accept herself. She's smart enough to know exactly what's she's doing to her body, but maybe she can't quite make sense of her feelings of loneliness and needs the attention.
The Irony of Sam Losing a Hand
Sam has always thought that he had good instincts. When he loses his hand, he is understandably upset. It turns out that was the best thing for him, however, because he starts being able to concentrate his premonitions using the sensations in his stump of a hand to predict the future.
The Irony of the Lambs' Financial Success
When the Pickles advertise for renters, they are hoping to improve their financial status. Not long after moving in the Lambs open their store which is wildly successful. The Lamb family does become the harbinger of financial gain but their own, not the Pickles who just manage to scrape by.
The Irony of Religion vs. Spirituality
The Lambs leave Margaret River because they claim to have abandoned religion. It's soon apparent, however, that those inclination to seek meaning and order in their lives lead several of them to adopt spiritual beliefs about their new home. True they are not practicing religion anymore, but the spiritual truths which they learned during their time at Margaret River have laid the spiritual ground for their kids to practice a pseudo-religion in this new environment. They have the same capability of conscience to believe in the spiritual energies of the house.
