Keep your Instagram accounts private ladies, everyone knows the charming stalker, Joe Goldberg, is coming back for Season 3 and there is no safe place to upload your photos once he is onto you.
After bingeing the book, here are a list of the most memorable quotes I found myself wanting to quote from Caroline Kepnes' thriller novel. I did not realize I wanted to remember these quotes until I arrive mid-way on finishing the book. You'd find some of them really familiar if you and I loved the same sentence.
No point in delaying what you're really here for. They're not in any order, so let's not rank Joe's words against each other. These words were spouted by the same man.
Careful if you've never read the book or watched the series. ⚠️ Spoilers ahead ⚠️
① The only thing crueler than a cage so small that a bird can't fly, is a cage so large that birds think they can fly.
Guess we can talk about the reality of this one. If we think we live in a cruel world where our dreams keeps on getting crushed, pushed further and further away from our reach is depressing enough, then how would you feel thinking that you've been working hard and investing your time, resources and effort for what you think is going to be successful, only to find out you were never far off from where you began.
② Sometimes the best writers get hated before they get loved.
We all start at the bottom. And while hate is a big word, it's true that the world does not give a cent to who you are when you are not searchable in Google. Because hey, who the heck are you, right? People are biased and surely they have a thinking-process that they follow. It starts with who-are-you to I-love-you once things turn to our favor. Consider this an inspiration, because Beck may have been hated for being a woman full of flaws but she will always have a place in the heart's of those who sees her potential.
③ Benjamin J. Ashby the third. Oh there's three of them.
There is no one as good as Joe Goldberg to nudge a smile out of you. He is a top-notch stalker with dirty thoughts and strong illusion of everythingship before it even started, but regardless of this side of him, you can't not love how his twisted mind spouts things like these.
④ The most valuable things in life are usually the most helpless, so they need people like us to protect them.
If diamonds are helpless in the mines and money is helpless in bank and vaults, I see why there are people like Joe who needs to be there to protect what matters. The same way mothers protect their children and fathers protect their daughters from vulnerability to the outside world, it is Joe's sole duty to protect Guinevere Beck from Peaches and Benjis and Nickys of the world. They take advantage of a clueless gem and that's a foul.
⑤ Some guys are a(redacted)holes and you need to realize that.
This goes to the Peaches and Nickys too. This is not just meant for Benji. People like Beck chooses to mingle with the wrong people and it's very sad to keep watching because they don't realize what's wrong even if they are already cornered. Poor little soul you are, Beck.
⑥ Dear Beck, you reel in men and you lose interest when you have them.
While this personally something I've seen in movies, and it does not only apply to Beck or the female population in general. Barney Stinson has made his fair share of reeling in women and never calls them again once he scores. Reality is out there, but what's the solution for it?
⑦ The correct answer: You should beg for my forgiveness, admit that you freaked out when you woke up alone. You thought I had abandoned you, the way your father abandoned you, the way all the men in your life abandon you. And then I promise to stay with you forever.
The frustration of our main antago-lead is very clear when he already had Beck locked up in his glass cage. The idea of a happy ending and the thought of getting what he deserves, he does not see what he's doing as wrong. He sees it as love. He thinks it was that simple, he does not see that Beck sees him a demented psycho. And as upsetting as it is, Joe dear, Beck does not think like you or Love. Like any other normal woman in the planet, for her this is stalking and just crazy. But don't worry, we appreciate you, Joe. Your fans do, and they are waiting for you this 2021.
⑧ Dear Beck, intimacy terrifies you. Why are you so afraid? Why can't you be yourself? Nicky knows you and accepts you. So will others. Love Beck.
Reality dear Beck, is that not everyone will love you, for who you are or for a fake version of you. There will always be an uneven number of people who will love you and people who will hate you. Be the first to appreciate yourself, Guinevere, and you'll find yourself not caring how uneven the percentage is.
⑨ I killed for you. I deserve you.
The things that one will do for love. But is it really? We've seen Finn (from The 100) kill for love and look where that brought him and Clarke. Or Dexter Morgan blood spatter analyst in the morning and vigilante by night. The things he did for Rita Bennett behind her back, does it really justify the things he did? How does Debra react to it? Even the closest people will take time to adjust to this fact, Joe. Killing is not exactly a small crime.
⑩ You failed and you do not get a gold star and I squeeze your neck to make the wrong answers go away.
Things are complicated if you and Beck have a different idea of a Love Story, Joe. She doesn't see what you see, her right answers are not the same with your right answers. And it's sad. Because Beck is a man-chaser, and she does not hesitate to use her body to get what she wants. Including escaping your glass cage, Joe.
⑪ "You give it your all, Beck. You just have to be more careful about who you give it to."
Heart is the symbol of love. It's the organ that pumps blood to your veins and whatnot, it's why you're alive and breathing. If you give it to just anyone, Beck, they can take your ability to breathe. Remember that.
⑫ Dear Beck, you only know how to push or pull when it comes to guys. Admit it. Own it. Fix it. Love Beck.
How you are raised may have affected your ability to love, Beck. But you can't always blame your parents because of what you've become. You are a grown woman, and the choices you made are yours.
⑬ But the most important thing I know is that I want the possibility of you more than the reality of Karen Minty.
It's like this at times or most of the time. It is always the things that we don't have that we want than the things that we already have. I don't know why, but if I compare reality with Karen Minty and the possibility of Beck, the difference is that Joe wants Beck more than he ever wanted Karen Minty. It's sad or wrong, but it happens. Not just to Joe, but even to us.
⑭ I stand up and grab my hair and I want to pull it out because you can't run your fingers through it anymore. You don't rise up to forgive me and ward off the evil silence that weighs me down more every second that you are mute.
And when things are gone, we try to hold it like we used to, we try to grasp it the way we had it. But the thing is, what's gone is gone. The more we hold onto what is gone, the more it makes us feel bad about what we've lost. This has reached creepy to the next level, but Joe Goldberg makes an exemption to himself and adds a bar he crossed with his level of charm.
⑮ Your crimes are many and you stole my Love Story.
The context is gone for the most part, but I felt like this deserved to be part of the list. Like a cliffhanging plot bunny that can be used to birth a new forbidden romance.
⑯ And there's no way around it. I didn't just pet this cat. I adopted it.
There are things not meant to be. Sometimes we show we are nice to someone, express that we appreciate this and that, and the next thing we know, the receiving end had misunderstood everything and now we are trapped and forced to accept the outcome. This cat is on our tail. And her name is Karen Bloody Minty. We all have Karen Mintys in our life, how do you deal with it?
⑰ Dear Beck, you think you cant have love until you've outgrown your daddy issues. But maybe you don't outgrow your daddy issues until you let yourself fall in love. Nicky is right. You grow through love. You don't postpone love until you stop growing. Love Beck.
The question is; what is love to you, Beck? Did you want a familial kind of love where you just want to have your dad be the father he never was ,or an erotic kind of love where it's all about sleeping together, or a romantic love where you want to get married with the person in the other end? Because dear Beck, Joe wants to get married. And that is a long-term kind of love, 'til death do you part.
⑱ But, know this, Beck: Every day I find a way to visit the pictures of you in my phone. I'm faithful.
Would have been sweet, Joe, if you and Beck were actually together. And you are not dating a woman you don't love (is she a rebound?). This could have been like Marshmallow and Lilypad's dedication to each other.
⑲ Suddenly it hits me. I cheated on you, I cheated on us.
It's painful to hear us when there isn't even an us to begin with. The good news is that, it's not cheating if you are single.
⑳ I know all about mirroring, Beck. One of the best ways to get someone to trust you is to focus on what you have in common.
Zeroing from general to mutual ground. It's a good ice breaker, Beck. And that's how Joe manages to be better than Peach or Benji. Because unlike them, who makes everything all about themselves, Joe makes everything about us. And he starts with what you two have in common. I can only imagine how well a conversation would it have been to joke about Dan Fox.
㉑ Dan Fox. (Son of Dan Brown and Paula Fox).
Joe Goldberg what a creative fellow. Makes me wonder what kind of name will he and Beck would have given their future son/daughter if they had been together and gotten married.
㉒ She's like a famous version of you, Beck (dates too much, falls too hard, (redacted) too fast, flees too hard).
Guinevere Beck is everything an eat-and-run person is. She takes what she can and runs after she got what she wanted. She has so many flaws but Joe and I saw something in her, saw her for who she is passed the social media repertoire she has.
㉓ You never repeat yourself because you're creative and Karen is not.
Listing down ten things of what Joe wants for both women, but there will always be number 11, 12, 13 and more when we're listing down the things that we love to someone we really do love. Anything that stays in top 10 is nothing but homework we are required to submit. And Karen Minty is homework. What we have with her, is nothing more ephemeral than her short-lived screen-time.
㉔ But, dear girl, you're not an island. Be populated. Be welcoming of love. Love Beck.
There are so many good things you can tell yourself, Beck. But at the end of the day, what are you going to do about this? You're a writer, Beck. I'm sure you know how to fool yourself, but a writer isn't only about imagination. There's action. There's a book where your imagination has become something solid.
㉕ Now I know you didn't bail on me because of the sex. You bailed on me because you have problems.
Beck, I have to ask you; are problems meant to be solved on your own? We've seen Pitch Perfect, it's basically our movie now. The Barden Bellas did not perform alone, they performed as a team. They did not solve their issues in a one-on-one session in a beige room. They did it together. If you had seen this, and you come to me, I would have been able to help you, be your Aubrey or your Jesse. Problems are always there, Beck. You can't opt out of it, what you can opt in is to choose who you are with when you face them.
㉖ "There's no real ending, no climax, no point. I'm not presuming that this is based on something real in your life, but if so, maybe think of putting this story in a drawer and revisiting it once you've got some distance from your emotions.
Emotions are very critical and they can affect a lot in your life. Clouding your judgment, influencing your work, giving you strength and wrecking your career. Emotions make you think of illusions and they push you to make it come true. And that's the dangerous part.
㉗ She didn't like that and my ma'am had a two-fold purpose. It was supposed to make her feel old (done) and it was also supposed to make her go away.
Fake respect, fake smile, fake tears, anything fake in life has a purpose. And this was Joe's.
㉘ Ethan is the loneliest, most depressing man I've ever met in my life and at the same time, he's saving me.
Maybe the loneliest and most depressing person in the planet thinks of how worthless they are (does not apply to Ethan apparently), but the thing is, they never know how their very existence saves a person around them. Keep living you poor creatures. You can actually save lives by existing.
㉙ Dear Beck, don't be your own worst enemy and chase after guys who don't want you. Be your own best friend and learn how to love guys that do want you. Love Beck.
Beck, Beck, Beck. Trying to achieve what you don't have does not apply to you. Because you are a woman of flaws. The only thing you can do, is appreciate who you are, because there is someone out there who appreciates you all the same. If only you'd felt the same for him, things would have been different for you and Joe.
㉚ Peach is not very good at soothing you, Beck. I would do better, could do better. And I want to know what's wrong. If you had reached out to me like you wanted to, I would be the one hugging you.
Joe is not the sweetest man in the world, but he knows how to console a person better than the Peaches and the Benjis and the Nickys would ever do.
㉛ You will always choose the Peaches and Benjis of the world over me because you're loyal to the gentry.
Does not mean that you are the kindest of the world that you are also the wisest with your choice of company. Because Beck, even Ted Mosby is better than you. At least he ended up with the one.
㉜ You love your writing, your friends, your city, men like Benji. And what all those have in common is that they will never love you back. While you give everything.
And then again, it does not matter how hard you work, how much you invest, how well you treat everyone fairly, how kind you try to be, life is not fair. The world is cruel. Because most of the time, you do not receive the equal of what you've given. Most of the time; you get nothing in return.