The Wrong Family

“What she did know was that if a baby had gone missing in 2008 from a perfect little family, it would have been national news, she was sure of it—especially if it were a white baby. That was how the world worked.”

Juno is commenting on the social inequities that privilege certain kinds of families. This ties into the theme of The Illusion of Perfection; the media would treat a white family as “perfect” regardless of whatever tensions might be present beneath the surface.

“Well, you got your way, Winnie, per usual. The three of us, secluded in this little world you’ve made for us. I suppose you want thanks, too. Sam is so grateful that you’ve forced him to be a vegetarian. I am so very grateful that you choose my underwear brand, and schedule my weekends, and tell me how to use my time off.”

This quote highlights how Winnie has molded her husband and son to fit her idealized version of a family. It demonstrates how tightly controlled their lives are, in contrast to the devastating secret of the dead, kidnapped baby. Nigel’s sarcasm shows how fragile Winnie’s efforts to maintain the veneer of perfection truly are.

“She could turn back now. Juno very clearly knew that what she was doing was wrong, and yet she took six more steps until she was standing in the middle of their family room.”

Juno feels compelled to get involved in others’ lives. She knows the difference between right and wrong and can see the boundary that she’s crossing, yet she elects to cross it anyway. This illustrates just how much she craves to be in the know about the family’s secrets and suggests that The Role of the Observer is anything but a passive one.

“To herself, she’d started referring to the closet as ‘Hem’s Corner.’ It was a safe space, comfortable and warm and familiar.”

Juno names the coat closet that includes the trapdoor to the crawl space “Hem’s Corner.” Juno finds safety and comfort in this closet despite being inches away from the family whenever they prepare to leave the house.

“She missed [Dale, her stepson] so deeply that the missing had become an organ. A throbbing, volatile organ. She curled into herself, into the pain. She deserved to feel it, and so when it came, she allowed it in, like a woman in labor.”

The metaphor of “a throbbing, volatile organ” describes the pain Juno feels when missing her stepson. This image illustrates how deeply Juno feels the pain of losing her former life; the simile associating her grief with childbirth underscores this by likening Juno to a mother (rather than a stepmother). However, Juno knows that her own actions caused the separation and therefore thinks that “she deserve[s] to feel it.”

“She’d never hated herself more than she did in that moment; not in prison, and not on the street. This was so much worse because she’d already come through those things and nothing was better; there was no reward if you behaved; there was no reward if you got clean. Society would continue to see you the same way they always had…and then, eventually, you would, too.”

Juno makes a significant point here about her experience of how the world works. She could reform herself, stop getting involved in people’s lives, and move on, but she knows she will never be able to shake her reputation and criminal record. Life as a therapist is beyond her reach now whether she “behaves” now or not.

“The last thing [Juno] wanted was some wet-behind-the-ears-do-gooder trying to help her live a less homeless life. Juno wanted to die; she just wanted to do it on her own terms, that was all. And perhaps this crawl space would be the perfect place.”

The irony here is that most people would consider a crawl space under someone else’s house a terrible place to live or die, yet Juno finds it “perfect” because she will be living outside of others’ expectations. Rather than seeking comfort, Juno wants to take care of herself the best she can and die alone and undetected.

“Winnie wrote Samuel’s name in Sharpie on the labels of his clothes, she balanced his meals with the precision of a nutritionist, and his Halloween costumes had been handmade his entire life—there was an entire album of photos to prove it. This was not the type of mother who lost or forgot to apply for her child’s birth certificate; quite the contrary.”

Juno is using her knowledge about Winnie’s character to make assumptions about why Samuel’s birth certificate is not with the others. The behaviors Juno lists illustrate once more the control and perfection that Winnie strives for, which extend to the most mundane details of Sam’s life.

“Juno knew from a lifetime of training that she had to get inside the head of the person, burrow deep until she knew not only how they worked, but why they worked. Once she had that vital piece of information, the circuit board to that person’s brain opened up, allowing Juno to press the right buttons.”

This quote provides insight into Juno’s character. Her interest in people goes far beyond getting “the dirt” on what’s going on in their lives. She wants that information so that she can manipulate it, infiltrate their lives, and control the outcome.

“If she were to be honest with herself, she would admit that it was the parents [of the missing children] she was most interested in. She wanted to see their hurt, to experience their pain alongside them like she had some part in it. She got off on the hurting.”

It is not clear whether Winnie began searching for news reports on missing children after herself committing a kidnapping; if so, this would suggest that she is punishing herself for the crime that she committed and the secrets she is keeping. Regardless, there is a strong element of voyeurism in her interest, paralleling Juno’s emotional involvement in the Crouches’ affairs.

“It was when Nigel brought up renting out the apartment downstairs to help with bills that she’d started looking for a job. The thought of some stranger in her house, watching her, terrified Winnie. She just couldn’t do it, even though she’d agreed to put in the separate entrance.”

This quote displays dramatic irony, which occurs when the reader knows something that the character does not. Winnie does not want her life under scrutiny, yet her every move is being watched and her conversations eavesdropped upon without her knowledge.

“She’d just been a kid to Winnie, some kid who needed help. Winnie had come home each night thinking—no, obsessing over Josalyn’s fate. Her coworkers told her that it was normal to have those feelings when you started out. But she’d gotten under Winnie’s skin, for whatever reason. Did it matter? She wanted to help her. She’d done the opposite.”

Winnie justifies her actions to herself by insisting that she was just trying to help, as if having good intentions atones for kidnapping and accidentally killing a child. The remark that Winnie “wanted to help” Josalyn anticipates Juno’s claim that she “just wanted to do the right thing” (302). In both cases, the effects are disastrous, highlighting the dangers of getting involved in others’ lives.

“Drunks seldom looked inward, and when they did, they usually ended up drinking more. Dakota was obviously looking for someone to blame and Nigel was the winner winner chicken dinner. Juno knew a ticking time bomb when she saw one.”

Juno notices what Winnie does not: Dakota is dangerous and could act violently at any time. The fact that Juno, the person who has the least ability to take action, is also the only person who sees the danger is ironic. Despite loving him dearly, Dakota’s family does not see what is right in front of them.

“The boys had nothing to do with her mistake; she just hadn’t been thinking of them. That’s how it always was when it came to mistakes; no one was doing any thinking.”

Juno realizes that her stepsons suffered as a result of her selfish actions—specifically, her affair with a client. Her remark that she wasn’t “thinking” when she committed her crimes is partly self-serving in that it seems to absolve her of some responsibility; however, it also underscores the extent to which her prying and manipulation are instinctive.

“[Winnie] was there to be an advocate for Josalyn in a world that didn’t understand her. On her arms were delicate tattle-tale scars of years of self-harm. She was a runaway: defiant, nonverbal, and had severe trust issues. She liked junk food—Funyuns and drinks that were blue. Winnie paved an avenue for trust with snacks.”

Josalyn’s vulnerability is underscored here, as is Winnie’s manipulation of her by providing her with snacks that she enjoyed. Buying Josalyn’s trust with the same kind of treats she now withholds from her son is ironic and suggests that she saw Josalyn as disposable in a way she does not with Sam.

“Juno broke the cable box […] To fuck with [Nigel’s] cable box was to fuck with his precarious mental stability. But that’s what Juno wanted—everyone unstable, so she could get some answers.”

Juno is not content to just watch the Crouch family implode. She wants to be a catalyst and take an active role in the unraveling. She is unconcerned about the possible outcome for the people involved, wanting to know their secrets at any cost.

“Unfortunately, we aren’t the only ones in control of our story arcs. Outsiders have an influence, too […] When you’re an adult you can control who you allow into your life, but you can’t control how they’ll behave once they’re there.”

Juno is speaking to Sam here, sharing her wisdom as she sees it. What’s ironic is that Winnie and Nigel have not let Juno into their lives willingly. Winnie, who exerts so much control over her family and circumstances, cannot even control Juno’s presence in her own house.

“The clock was ticking, and Juno wanted to make sure that Sam was okay. Sam was her priority. Sam was caught up in all of this because they’d stolen him. She’d read the police report, seen the little swatches of blood. A baby had been taken. Like hers had been taken from her.”

This quote identifies Juno’s primary motives for contacting Terry Russel and interfering so directly with the Crouch family’s lives. She thinks she is protecting Sam but is also trying to get vicarious justice for herself, feeling that her stepsons were “taken” from her unjustly—a view that overlooks her own role in the separation.

“If Winnie were honest, she’d be able to acknowledge that her current lust for another baby had been triggered by Samuel’s snipping of the apron strings. Fill the hole, do a better job as a mother next time.”

Winnie wants everything to be perfect and has been controlling Samuel’s every move since he was born. Even with all this control, Samuel has grown into a young man with his own opinions and ideas. Winnie is no longer fully in control of his life, which gives her the impulse to start again and try harder by managing the next child’s life even more minutely.

“‘You killed it, Winnie. You stole a baby and you’re responsible for what happened to it after that.’

‘It’s not an “it,” Nigel, It’s a baby boy.’

‘Was!’ He screamed so loudly Winnie stepped back, knocking into the fridge.”

This dialogue reveals the cause of the marital tension that has been described throughout the book. Nigel is angry about the role Winnie played in the death of Josalyn’s baby. The revelation also explains why the Crouches remain committed to their relationship despite their seeming misery: They share this tragic secret.

“Everything that had happened that night had felt like the sort of thing that would happen in the movies, the sort of mistakes a stupid character made that left you yelling ‘No!’ at the TV.”

Winnie’s observation is a moment of metatextual irony. Winnie herself is a character (though in a book rather than a movie or TV show). The quote not only draws attention to the novel’s sensational events but also reminds the reader that they, like Winnie, are a voyeur.

“She’d done it again, the thing that had rent her family right down the middle all those years ago—getting too involved in people’s lives, taking it a step too far, crossing a line. And for what? Kregger had said she’d chosen psychology because she needed to be overly involved in people’s lives. And she had, hadn’t she? She’d been that way since she was a little girl at her mother’s salon, eavesdropping on breakups and makeups, thinking about their stories as she lay in bed at night.”

This quote develops Juno’s characterization. She has a lifelong, seemingly inherent need to become wrapped up in strangers’ lives. She doesn’t stop at eavesdropping and learning the gossip but takes additional steps to become involved in the drama in their lives. She intertwines her lives with theirs, with terrible outcomes.

“She thought she knew everything about her brother, but now, she realized that she knew only what she wanted to know, what it suited her to know.”

Winnie realizes here that she has deliberately ignored the multiple lifelong signs of mental illness in her brother. Her awareness comes too late to save her family. The façade of perfection that she has strived to preserve results in great tragedy by papering over the problems that lead to Nigel and Terry’s deaths.