How we cite our quotes: Chapter.Paragraph
Quote #10
Then something happened. My father finally died […] I thought it would make me feel better to have the man vanish from the earth, but I actually felt a massive, frightening hollowness open up in my chest. I had spent my life comparing myself to my father, and now he was gone. (61.10, 13)
Ultimately both Amy and Nick's anger and desire for revenge is directed at their families. In Nick's case, it's his women-hating, perpetually angry father, who's spent this entire book slowly fading due to Alzheimer's while Nick anxiously awaits his demise. Nick thinks that finally having his father gone will bring relief from his painful childhood, but these vengeful thoughts only lead to emptiness. His hatred and lack of respect for his father ran so deep that with those emotions gone, his mind has nowhere to turn.