The book’s primary theme, the prevalence of deceit and keeping up appearances, is introduced immediately with the book’s opening line: “Everybody lies” (5). Everyone presents some kind of image to the world, which the novel argues requires some level of lying. Most people want to project a certain persona to the world and will take steps to achieve that, from wearing certain clothes to pursuing specific activities. The most obvious example of a character keeping up appearances in the book is Adrienne. Adrienne’s desire to be seen as the intellectual, levelheaded psychiatrist makes the extortion tape EJ has of her slashing someone’s tires especially harmful; this is not in line with how Adrienne wants the world to see her.

Adrienne’s fierce need to present a polished image to the world is at odds with her violence, such as when she watches the man who stole her parking space walk in front of her car and thinks:

[A]ll I would have to do is switch my foot from the brake to the gas, and it would change his entire world. It would wipe that smirk off his face, that’s for sure. But I’m a civilized person. I will not mow down a pedestrian in the middle of a crowded parking lot (107).