Double Fault Page 35
The experience of falling in love can feel eclipsing; it becomes hard to keep a hold on who you are. Is it possible to resent people you love for the very fact that you love them, and to come to hate the very things about them that you most admire? Besides, in the case of Eric, aren’t people who are good at everything—and you have surely met such people—a little infuriating?
One of Willy’s most tragic losses at the end of the novel isn’t just her marriage, but her first and greatest love: tennis. She has destroyed her own pleasure in the sport. How do you picture her life after the last page? What will she do for a living? Will she marry again? If so, will she have learned her lesson? And what lesson would that be?
