Before We Were Innocent

“We had all assumed losing Evangeline would be the hardest part. We were all wrong.”

This passage emphasizes the theme of True Crime and Media Distortion. The girls have been vilified in the media for their perceived guilt, and the shock and stress of their prolonged time in the public eye has a profound impact on Bess in particular. Her harrowing experience in Greece reverberates throughout her 20s, and she even forgoes the opportunity of attending college to opt instead for living as a recluse and avoiding the spotlight.

“You are a liar, I tell myself, rolling the word over in my mouth. You were a liar then and you’re a liar now.”

The deliberate tone of Bess’s shame and self-blame in this passage highlights the motif of secrets and the novel’s focus on the complexities of identity and friendship. Bess, the novel’s protagonist, is not immune to the bad behavior that most overtly characterizes Joni. Like both of her friends, Bess keeps secrets, but she does feel more guilt about her behavior than Joni does, and of the two, she is the most willing to admit her guilt and to consider how her actions impact other people.

“I loved Joni from almost the first moment I met her, but in the way you might love an adopted feral cat that more often than not makes your life hell. I always understood that aligning myself with her perhaps hadn’t been my best choice.”

This passage reveals important aspects of Bess’s characterization as well as Joni’s. There is a distinct disconnect between how others perceive Joni and how Bess sees her, and questions lurk behind the narrative about how and to what extent Joni manipulates the hero worship that Bess shows her. Bess’s entire family sees Joni as troubled and opportunistic, and it is not until Bess figures out the extent of Joni’s lying that she realizes that she has mischaracterized her friend for many, many years.

“Whatever happens, I think you’re better off without Joni in your life. She’s a vampire, always has been.”

Steven’s warning hints at the true nature of Joni and Bess’s relationship, and the invocation of Joni’s vampiric qualities is particularly significant. Although many people—Steven included—can perceive Joni’s cold, ruthless qualities, Bess has always failed to see these warning signs. The inherent power dynamics in the women’s relationship prevent Bess fails from realizing that Joni maneuvers events to place herself in a position of primacy, directing Bess’s behavior and manipulating her perceptions. This talent also extends to her own social media influence, for she projects the image she wants others to see in order to gain the widespread approval and support that she so desperately needs.

“How I felt about Theo wasn’t the only secret I kept from my friends, but it was potentially the biggest one.”

This passage highlights the importance of secrets within the narrative. Each character keeps secrets despite their tight-knit relationships. What lies below the surface, both on an individual level and in terms of group dynamics, very often does not align with the way the girls act and what they are willing to say out loud.

“The power dynamic began to shift, and for the first time in our friendship, I didn’t feel like the newcomer, like the spare part who needed to be grateful for having been included at all.”

This passage speaks to the theme of The Complexities of Adolescent Female Friendship. Although they are fiercely bonded, the girls are also capable of emotionally wounding one another, and their friendship is an ever-shifting landscape of alliances in flux. Each of the girls is a complex mixture of good and bad behavior, and their actions and decisions impact each other in intricate ways.

“‘I knew who you were the first time you came in.’ He continues. ‘But trust me, I know bad people, and I know that someone who looked like you, someone who came from where you did, couldn’t kill someone.’”

This passage emphasizes the theme of True Crime and Media Distortion. Because the coverage of Evangeline’s murder is so in-depth and far reaching, Joni and Bess are catapulted into instant stardom. As a result, many people come to feel as though they know the girls personally and have special insight into their character and motives. Some are sure of the girls’ guilt and others of their innocence, but Bess is struck by how everyone comes to view them through the “prism” of Evangeline’s death.

“But we both know firsthand how little difference there is between lies and the truth, how either can be distorted at any point to fit someone else’s agenda.”

This passage speaks to the novel’s interest in True Crime and Media Distortion. As with many real-life true-crime stories, the women in the novel are mischaracterized when the media latches onto their uncharacteristic behavior during one particular snapshot in time. As she has stated in interviews, Berman is interested in gendered misrepresentations in the media, and she uses the characters of Bess and Joni to draw attention to the various ways that woman can be vilified by the international media. This pattern speaks to the existence of double standards for women and men in coverage of violent crimes.

“Show me an 18-year-old saint, and I’ll show you a liar.”

With the dry, bitter tone of this statement, Berman creates a literary landscape in which there are no true “sinners” or “saints.” Instead, she crafts complex figures who embody a mixture of positive and negative qualities. Even Evangeline, who is initially presented as a “placid” individual, is rendered more complex by her controlling nature, and there are moments in which Bess’s more problematic qualities shine through as well. Of the three, Joni most closely resembles a true antagonist, but even in her darkest moments, she is motivated by pain and deep insecurity.

“It makes me feel trapped sometimes, how much my sister needs me.”

With Theo’s frustrated admission, this passage provides a more nuanced view of Evangeline’s personality, challenging the subsequent media portrayal of her as “angelic.” Although she will be characterized as innocent and entirely “good” after her death and seems kinder than Joni and even Bess, Evangeline proves herself to be a round character who is not so easy to label. In the weeks before her death, she seeks to control her friends and her brother alike. In her own way, she is just as manipulative as Joni.

“We would all be fundamentally changed in less than forty-eight hours, even though none of us could have known it at the time.”

This passage stands as an example of language that is typical of the thriller genre. The author uses asides like this to create an air of urgency and intensity. Although Before We Were Innocent is a character-driven literary thriller that focuses on developing Bess, Joni, and Evangeline, moments like this ground the novel within a tradition of fast-paced writing that evokes a tone of suspense and anticipation.

“Just before sunset with the ocean rippling like molten gold, the familiar opening riff of “Time to Pretend” by MGMT blasted through the speakers. The three of us were instantly drawn to one another like magnets, clutching each other’s sweaty hands as we closed our eyes and danced on the fine sand, screaming the lyrics to a song we had blasted a thousand different times in a thousand different places but that had never felt as agonizingly perfect as it did in that moment.”

This moment becomes an important symbol within the text, highlighting the complexities of identity in late adolescence and early adulthood and delving into the nature of the girls’ friendship. When the girls dance to this song, they present an unruly image that will later be cited as evidence of their hedonistic nature. This moment therefore exemplifies the ways in which the media distorts typical teenage behavior to present the girls in a negative light. This brief moment of bonding will be twisted to support the inaccurate narrative that Bess and Joni were a bad influence on Evangeline.

“For just a moment, I had wanted it to be her.”

Bess has this thought as she watches Evangeline fall to her death, and the dark nature of this transitory thought establishes the deeper complexity of her character. Although she is not as manipulative as Joni or as controlling as Evangeline, Bess is also capable of real anger and hateful feelings about her friends. The line also foreshadows the tragedy to follow and highlights Bess’s subsequent guilt when she realizes that her cruel yet momentary hope turns out to be true.

“When I mentioned how long we’d been drinking, the officer’s expression shifted slightly.”

This quote highlights the author’s goal to recreate the key aspects of true crime culture. So often when crimes occur or are dissected in the public eye, each person involved is subjected to harsh scrutiny. Any deviation from what is considered “good” behavior results in blame, even though the public is privy to only a portion of the crime’s context. In this case, Joni and Bess are eviscerated in the media, in no small part because of their poor behavior in the days leading up to and following Evangeline’s death.

“He doesn’t understand the nuances, the way that girls can hurt each other without meaning to. Death by a thousand cuts? I think that phrase must have been written about teenage girls.”

This passage emphasizes the theme of The Complexities of Adolescent Female Friendships. Although Joni, Bess, and Evangeline love one another deeply, they are still growing up and learning about themselves, and they are imperfect. They are as capable of hurting one another as they are of supporting one another.

“The news is like a lightning bolt through the heart of the story, and the press step up their interest with electrifying fervor.”

This passage delves into the theme of True Crime and Media Distortion. After Willa’s death, the media becomes even more fixated on the story, and surveillance of Bess and Joni increases. This recurring dynamic reminds Bess of the traumatic experience of being vilified in the press after Evangeline’s death, and she shows signs of increasing stress as she relives her original trauma. She understands that the press is interested not in the truth, but in presenting whatever narrative the public finds the most compelling.

“Maybe I was always destined to climb over the bodies of those I once loved to get where I needed to go.”

Joni’s admission highlights the more mercenary aspects of her personality, for she uses the death of Evangeline and its aftermath to create an influential personal brand and a powerful social media platform. By recasting herself in the role of a wise self-improvement guru, she capitalizes on her time spent as a murder suspect in Greece. However, in the process, she manipulates Evangeline’s memory and reveals herself to be cold and calculating rather than thoughtful and altruistic.

“The press had already decided that Joni’s smile was cunning, that my wide-set, icy blue eyes were unsettling, as we left the police station the second time after ‘refusing to cooperate.’”

This passage highlights the theme of True Crime and Media Distortion. Because the media is only interested in what is most salacious and sensational, the press coverage of the girls develops a specific narrative and sticks to these skewed stories rather than attempting to uncover the truth.

“I think about my favorite refrain, my unbreakable assertion that Joni never lies, based on the scrappy, straight-talking teenager version of her I first met, and I ask myself whether that’s become the greatest lie of all.”

This passage develops Bess’s characterization as well as Joni’s. Part of Bess’s development involves understanding herself better and realizing just how grossly she has misjudged Joni’s true nature. Here, she realizes that Joni has always been a liar and finally figures out how wrong she has been about her friend.

“When my dad left, the worst part wasn’t that he was gone, it was that I couldn’t trust any of my memories of him anymore either.”

This passage reveals the slippery nature of memory, for each character’s recollections are viewed through the lens of interpretation. Here, Joni wonders if her father ever truly loved her or her family. Implicit in Joni’s admission that she cannot trust her memories of her childhood is the idea that her memories of her teenage years—and of the events surrounding Evangeline’s death—might be equally suspect. Thus, although this moment is part of Joni’s characterization, it does have broader import within the novel, for everyone’s memories are filtered through the lens of their experience.

“You were so scared that we were going to fracture that you broke us first.”

This passage speaks to The Complexities of Adolescent Female Friendships and further reveals aspects of Joni’s character. Although Joni exudes a sense of poise and control, she has always been insecure; as a teenager, she is deeply unsure of her status within the trio of friends. Terrified of losing her best friends after high school, she uses manipulation to try to prevent that loss. In doing so, she causes far more harm than she intends. The author uses this moment to illustrate the ways in which individuals can damage valued friendships and cause emotional harm to the people they love.

“I know what those friendships can be like. The intensity is, it’s like nothing else.”

This passage speaks to the theme of The Complexities of Adolescent Female Friendships. Joni, Bess, and Evangeline all love one another fiercely, but they betray, manipulate, and lie to one another. This novel explores the way that female friendships in late adolescence can be fraught and confusing. None of the girls respect or support their friends, and the novel explores the way in which each member of the trio represents a complex mix of positive and negative traits.

“I stare at the photo, a posed shot of the three of us, arms linked under defiant grins, and I try to remember what it meant to be that girl on a beach in Greece, standing in between my best friends with the rest of our lives hovering in front of us.”

This passage speaks to The Complexities of Adolescent Female Friendships and to the novel’s interest in exploring how girls alternately build one another up and tear one another down. The author is most interested in the developmental dynamics of late adolescence, and in many ways, her novel seeks to illuminate how the stresses of incipient adulthood impact female friendships.