Nothing to See Here

“I didn’t say that Madison probably didn’t have any other real friends. I didn’t hold it against her. I didn’t have any real friends, either. What I also didn’t say was that I wasn’t even sure that we were actually friends at all. What we were was something weirder.”

As Carl and Lillian talk on the way to the estate for the first time, he offhandedly mentions that Madison considers Lillian her oldest friend. Knowing that she is Madison’s only friend and vice versa is key to understanding why this unusual relationship withstood time, distance, and a massive betrayal. Lillian also speaks to the “more than friends” quality of their relationship, as she has been in love with Madison for more than a decade. It is a strange and unbalanced relationship, but Lillian shows awareness of this and highlights it for readers early in the narrative, providing an early example of a bond based partly on “weirdness.”

“‘How many servants do you have?’ I asked Madison, who stiffened. I couldn’t tell if I was doing this on purpose, trying to make her feel bad about being so filthy rich.

‘More than we probably need,’ she finally said. ‘But they’re not servants. They’re employees. It’s like running a cruise ship or something like that. It’s just that a place this big has a lot of things that have to get done and a lot of people who have specific abilities. But I know all their names. I can keep track of them.’”

This moment touches on one of the ironies of upper-class life. They need their wealth to be known and ostentatiously seen, but to speak directly of details like servants is vulgar. Lillian, who resents Madison’s wealth and privilege, thrills in making Madison uncomfortable in this moment.

“The walls were painted with orange and yellow polka dots on a white background. The floors were made of a kind of spongy material, bright blue. There were lots of beanbag chairs, primary school furniture. The whole place felt like Sesame Street mixed with a mental health facility.”

The guest house is ridiculously decorated. Its overwhelmingly colorful design seems like an attempt to distract the children from their trauma and the fact that they are in effect prisoners in the building.