“‘Should I remove my soul before I come inside?’ Her first line upon arrival. It had been a compromise: Amy demanded we rent, not buy, in my little Missouri hometown, in her firm hope that we wouldn’t be stuck here long. . . .It was a compromise, but Amy didn’t see it that way, not in the least. To Amy, it was a punishing whim on my part, a nasty, selfish twist of the knife. I would drag her, caveman-style, to a town she had aggressively avoided, and make her live in the kind of house she used to mock. "

Nick describes Amy’s acerbic wit and in doing so, indicates many of the problems in their marriage. From the opening pages, Nick indicates that Amy is unhappy with him. Nick’s account of Amy’s personality and conversation differ significantly from the sweet, cheerful tone of Amy’s diary. The reader soon questions who the real Amy is.

“There’s something disturbing about recalling a warm memory and feeling utterly cold.” 

Nick reports his true feelings, after recalling a lovely memory of his relationship with his wife. He does not like his wife now, on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary. Such comments indicate from the opening pages that all is not well with the Dunnes’ marriage.

“Go is truly the one person in the entire world I am totally myself with. I don’t feel the need to explain my actions to her. I don’t clarify, I don’t doubt, I don’t worry. I don’t tell everything, not anymore, but I tell her more than anyone else, by far. I tell her as much as I can.” 

Nick describes his relationship with his twin sister, Go, or Margo. He is closer to her than he is to his wife. This quotation reveals that Nick is not himself with others, including his wife, Amy, foreshadowing his dishonest behavior throughout the novel. In addition, Nick’s relationship with his sister is the central relationship in his life, which displays a side to Nick’s character—kind, funny, not misogynistic, somewhat considerate and loving—completely absent from his relationship with Amy.