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Nate remembered something else: the belief that success was something that just happened to you, that you just did your thing, and if you were deserving, it was bestowed by the same invisible hand that ensured that the deli would have milk to drink and sandwiches to buy. Wouldn't that be nice? Nate sometimes envied people less clear-sighted, people so seduced by success itself that their enthusiasm for successful people was wholly genuine. [...]
N believes this throughout most of hte book
[...] He had wondered if everybody took the quality they had and treated it as the most important thing - used it as a basis for feeling superior to others.
important concept, though could be better worded
So it hardly seemed to matter that she was not a particularly nice girlfriend. Unless they coincided with hers, Elisa treated his desires as perverse whims, wholly negligible. An expensive restaurant she liked was a healthy indulgence; his craving for barbecue was "disgusting." A somewhat down-market local barbecue chain he especially liked? "Out of the question." After social engagements, she enjoyed regaling him with a list of criticisms of his behavior. She seemed to think that everything he did was first and foremost a reflection on her. [...]
yikes. she's similar to N i guess
[...] She had been spoiled by her good looks and good fortune; she lacked inner resources; she was petulant and childish when things didn't go her way. [...]
Elisa. pretty insightful
[...] He hated that being passed over in favor of Eugene bothered him as much as it did. It suggested a pettiness and an insecurity that he associated with mediocrity. It was not exactly the light in which he wanted Hannah, who was nobody's fool, to see him. Besides, between the two of them, he had always played the role of the more successful writer. He had been the one to champion her work, to build her up. For their roles to be reversed, even temporarily, would only add to his sense of indignity.
so self-absorbed wow. relevant for N??
The issue seemed, to him, to be have been resolved, but they continued to talk for a while longer. This didn't really surprise him. In his experience, women, once they got started, exhibited a rather insatiable desire to confess, elaborate, iron out, reveal, and so on and so forth. [...]
hahahah
"It's fine," he said in the kind of cold, flat voice that only someone with serious Asperger's would take at face value.
Hannah's expression indicated to Nate that she did not suffer from Asperger's syndrome.
Nate looked away, a little repelled by the near panic he'd seen on her face. He was also afraid that if he looked at her, he'd feel bad and apologize, and he didn't want to feel bad or apologize. [...]
jesus, this is so blatantly passive-aggressive, it hurts to even read it
She made a sarcastic comment about Nate's "artfully crafted sentences," which, she said, mimicked true feeling without knowing what it was. He imitated the stylistic devices of writers he admired without realizing that for those writers these weren't mere devices but means of expressing something true.
something to keep in mind i guess
Then Nate looked at her face and saw that she'd been crying. She had tried to cover it up. No, that wasn't quite right. She looked as if she'd made a halfhearted attempt to cover it up but what she really wanted was for him to know that she was upset and ask what was wrong.
man relationships are tough
At the park, he had thought Hannah was unreasonable when she accused him of not trying, but now he wondered if he had, at some point, stacked the deck against her - decided he didn't want her and then set things up so she'd justify his slackening interest. Because he knew - of course he knew, he wasn't stupid - that his behavior had contributd to, if not entirely caused, her insecurity. And of course her insecurity [...] just made her more annoying. But it had felt as if he couldn't help the way he behaved. [...]