Everyone Knows How Much I Love You

April 6, 2020
Rose, the unhinged narrator of McCarthy’s grimly comic debut, is the sort of childhood friend best left behind. In high school, Rose set her sights on Leo, the boyfriend of her best friend, Lacie. After Leo “wouldn’t shut up” about Lacie while Rose was driving him to meet her in the middle of the night, Rose crashed her car and ran away, leaving Leo bloodied and unconscious. Twelve years later, Rose tracks down Lacie in New York City, where they both live. Rose is working on a novel about her youth and making ends meet as an SAT tutor, a job she lands after fudging her qualifications. Lacie is working as a graphic artist and dating Ian, a painter. Rose worms her way into sharing Lacie’s apartment, and soon, in the best horror movie tradition, is costuming herself in Lacie’s clothes, throwing herself at Ian, and generally taking possession of Lacie’s life, with predictably disastrous consequences. A classic unreliable narrator, Rose glibly explains away even her most horrific actions. McCarthy’s pitch-dark tone extends outward from her narrator to the rest of the cast of characters, all motivated by self-interest and most even less self-aware than Rose. This is a deliciously incisive tale.