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Jean-Felix Martin
Paul Rose is Alicia’s younger cousin, Lydia’s son, and Vernon’s nephew. Though as a young boy he adored Alicia, in recent years, Paul has lost touch with his cousin—the only time he reaches out to her is when he needs money, having fallen into debt because of a gambling problem. Lydia Rose’s lifelong manipulation of her son has kept Paul fairly homebound, leaving him without friends or the semblance of an adult life; both Alicia and Theo continually note that Paul is “stunted.” Though Paul seems frightening at first, Theo eventually comes to realize that he is harmless and sad, occupied only with his gambling and his innocent crush on Tanya Berenson.
Paul Rose Quotes in The Silent Patient
The The Silent Patient quotes below are all either spoken by Paul Rose or refer to Paul Rose. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 4, Chapter 8
Quotes
“[Vernon] was a mean bastard. The only person he ever cared about was Auntie Eva. I suppose that’s why he said it.”
“Said what?” I was losing patience. “I don’t understand what you’re saying to me. What exactly happened?”
“Vernon was going on about how much he loved Eva—how he couldn’t live without her. ‘My girl, he kept saying, ‘my poor girl, my Eva…Why did she have to die? Why did it have to be her? Why didn’t Alicia die instead?’”
[…] “And Alicia whispered something to me—I’ll never forget it. ‘He killed me,’ she said. ‘Dad just—killed me.’”
I stared at Paul, speechless. A chorus of bells started ringing in my head, clanging, chiming, reverberating. This is what I’ve been looking for. I’d found it, the missing piece of the jigsaw, at last.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 4, Chapter 11
Quotes
“What do you want to talk about?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Nothing. I just want to talk.”
So we talked. We talked about Lydia and Paul, and about her mother, and the summer she died. We talked about Alicia’s childhood—and mine. I told her about my father, and growing up in that house; she seemed curious to know as much as possible about my past and what had shaped me and made me who I am.
I remember thinking, There’s no going back now. We were crashing through every last boundary between therapist and patient. Soon it would be impossible to tell who was who.
Get the entire The Silent Patient LitChart as a printable PDF.
Paul Rose Quotes in The Silent Patient
The The Silent Patient quotes below are all either spoken by Paul Rose or refer to Paul Rose. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 4, Chapter 8
Quotes
“[Vernon] was a mean bastard. The only person he ever cared about was Auntie Eva. I suppose that’s why he said it.”
“Said what?” I was losing patience. “I don’t understand what you’re saying to me. What exactly happened?”
“Vernon was going on about how much he loved Eva—how he couldn’t live without her. ‘My girl, he kept saying, ‘my poor girl, my Eva…Why did she have to die? Why did it have to be her? Why didn’t Alicia die instead?’”
[…] “And Alicia whispered something to me—I’ll never forget it. ‘He killed me,’ she said. ‘Dad just—killed me.’”
I stared at Paul, speechless. A chorus of bells started ringing in my head, clanging, chiming, reverberating. This is what I’ve been looking for. I’d found it, the missing piece of the jigsaw, at last.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 4, Chapter 11
Quotes
“What do you want to talk about?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Nothing. I just want to talk.”
So we talked. We talked about Lydia and Paul, and about her mother, and the summer she died. We talked about Alicia’s childhood—and mine. I told her about my father, and growing up in that house; she seemed curious to know as much as possible about my past and what had shaped me and made me who I am.
I remember thinking, There’s no going back now. We were crashing through every last boundary between therapist and patient. Soon it would be impossible to tell who was who.
