The Good Lie

Throughout The Good Lie, characters make frequent references to alcohol, and Gwen and Robert indulge in a drink together at several points. After John’s funeral, Gwen and Robert have their first meeting in a dive bar nearby, drinking beers and connecting over their shared feelings. During this scene, Gwen cites something that her father used to say: “With this glass, rich and deep, we cradle all our sorrows to sleep” (25). Thus, alcohol plays into the theme of Coping With Guilt and Grief, and both Gwen and Rob are open about their use of alcohol as a distraction from their negative or painful feelings. Beyond the professional boundaries of their offices, Gwen and Rob often meet over drinks; their first and last meetings in the novel are in bars, and this repeated setting lends a sense of symmetry to the story and shows that they are dealing with their respective sorrows in similar ways. For Gwen, drinking away her sorrows is a form of intentional self-punishment, for when Rob offers her a B6 vitamin to combat the inevitable hangover, she refuses it and deals with the pain instead.

For Gwen and Rob, the presence of alcohol also signals a transition from the realm of the professional to the realm of the personal. When they meet in their offices, their interactions are largely platonic, but when they meet in their homes, wine or beer is nearly always present, signaling a more relaxed atmosphere that leads to greater intimacies. As they share a toast at the end of the novel, this moment hints at their future; Gwen is taking on Robert as a client, but it is clear that the professional boundaries between them are fragile at best and nonexistent at worst. Before this meeting, Gwen downplays Robert’s request as “[a] drink. It sounded so simple, so innocent” (240). The statement is ironic because drinks have been anything but simple or innocent throughout the novel, and the presence of alcohol always symbolizes a dissolution of professional boundaries and inflames the romantic chemistry between them.