Criminal Profiling
The strangling death of young girl plays a prominent role in the narrative. This method of murder is suggestive of a madness made metaphorical:
“The girls had to die. Strangling is the very definition of dominance. Slow-motion murder.”
Two-Way Character Insight
It is always interesting to see how one character views another using figurative language. The reader gets a bargain: two insights into the character for the price of just one observation. For instance, Camille’s observation of her young mother Adora provides information about the observed as well as the observer that may well turn out to be more fruitful than it would seem:
“Glowing pale skin, with long blonde hair and pale blue eyes. She was like a girl’s very best doll, the kind you don’t play with.”
Welcome to Wind Gap
The story is set in a small town in a Missouri called Wind Gap. Wind Gap is the kind of small town that—well, why not let the characters who it best put the description into easily digested and accessible metaphorical form:
"A town so suffocating and small, you tripped over people you hated every day…About two thousand people live there. Old money and trash.”
The Fairy Tale Comparison
When one really wants to ensure a large percentage of readers gets the point of a comparison made using a simile, a near-foolproof method is to make the comparison to a fairy tale. Fairy tales are so universal and such an elemental aspect of the process of learning to read that using the stories as a point of similarity avoids many of the pitfalls that come with referencing pop culture. Not to mention the fact that unlike pop culture fashion where what is must-see TV one decade becomes the subject of a whatever-happened-to article by the next, fairy tales have withstood the test of time and seem certain to continue doing so. With this in mind, even without knowing any of the particulars, a reader can assess to some degree the relationship being discussed in this example:
“But now we’re reunited. You’re like poor Cinderella, and I’m the evil stepsister. Half sister.”
A Drinking Problem
Camille has a drinking problem. Or, if such is one’s preference, she suffers from a disease that makes it impossible for her to not drink alcohol. Or maybe she's just a stinking drunk. However one may wish to term it…Camille has a drinking problem. It is easy to tell that her drinking has long since reached the stage where it is a problem not just because alcohol fuels so much of her actions, but because she insists on creating metaphors to make having a drinking problem seem like it is something more complex and poetic:
“I’ve always been partial to the image of liquor as lubrication—a layer of protection from all the sharp thoughts in your head.”
