History Literature / LightsAreOffButEveryonesHome

The primary story arc concerns Staley's relationship with Diane Bourdon, a twenty-three-year-old {{Goth}} college girl who seems at first to be a ManicPixieDreamGirl. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome This relationship soon devolves into a dysfunctional, codependent nightmare]] that threatens to consume the both of them.

* ManipulativeBastard: Diane nurtures Trent's dependency, and seemingly knows she is the only person who provides him any form of validation or affection, physical or otherwise. It seems sweet and maternal...[[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome at first.]] [[spoiler: We later find out that she is grooming him not (just) to meet her sexual needs, whether he's comfortable or not, but as a surrogate child to replace her stillborn daughter.]]

* SexEqualsLove: Trent, Connor, and all of the male cast seem to believe this. Trent gets a rude awakening with the book's SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome.

* STDImmunity: Lampshaded as Diane has had her tubes tied and Trent is a virgin. Averted with Connor Pressman, who gets some kind of urethral infection and tries to 'cure' it with a cue-tip and hydrogen peroxide. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome It seems to work, but it's obviously agonizing.]]

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: There is no way a relationship between a sixteen-year-old, parentless boy and a twenty-three-year-old woman [[spoiler: still grieving her dead daughter]] can ever come to anything like a happy ending.

* CoolLoser: Trent works at a bookstore and has written and illustrated poetry and short stories, some of which are published in his school newspaper. He describes himself as grotesque to look at, yet Maria and Tabs are never anything but kind to him and - predatory or otherwise - he still attracts a woman seven years his senior. His psychological problems may not be his fault, but he refuses to make any meaningful attempt to overcome them [[spoiler: until the end, when he decides his life belongs to him and he won't be abused anymore.]]

* {{Bishonen}}: Diane sees Staley as this.

* FiveManBand:
** Trent, TheLeader by virtue of being the protagonist
** Connor, the BigGuy and TheLancer
** Keith, the LovableSexManiac (Though "Lovable" is a stretch, seeing as the only one that loves him is [[spoiler: Tabs, and only near the end of the book]])
** Roger, TheSmartGuy
** Maria, TheChick

* CriticalResearchFailure: In-Universe. Nicholas's band is called 'Revisceration' and is named for a form of torture that involves removing somebody's organs and then putting them back in, "So that their body runs all fucked-up and shit." Trent notes this as ArtisticLicenseBiology, and moves on.

* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: Subverted. Connor Pressman has lots of good sex, but he doesn't think of women as anything beyond objects; and when Trent and Diane have sex, it's a smokescreen to ignore their crippling codependency.

* {{Moe}}: Maria.

* MrsRobinson: Diane.

* HypocriticalHumor: The original name for Staley's protagonist in his novel, ''Midnight City,'' was [[Music/{{Nirvana}} Kurt]] [[Music/TheRollingStones Jagger]]. He rejects this as being 'too obvious' and 'gimmicky.' Trent himself is obviously named for Trent Reznor of Music/NineInchNails, and Layne Staley, of Music/AliceInChains.

* BastardGirlfriend: [[spoiler: Diane, slowly but surely, devolves into one as the book progresses.]]

* WomenAreWiser: Or rather, Maria specifically is wiser than everyone else. She gives Trent the most level-headed advice on sex and dating, even if she still [[IdiotBall doesn't identify that Diane being seven years older than Staley is a gigantic redflag.]] Averted with Tabs, who's just as dumb and reckless as any of the male cast, and subverted with Diane, who uses this trope as a smoke screen.

* AdultFear: The Death of Trent's parents and the incapacitation of his older brother and Legal Guardian InNameOnly, but also Trent's relationship with an adult woman who is clearly manipulating him. Especially worse when we find out what exactly she's manipulating him for.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Diane's hair is green-and-black.

* ArcWords: "I am the Dreamer, you are the Dream." Said first by Trent's Sleep Paralysis Demon, then in a dream Diane inspires, then [[spoiler: by himself, to his own written works; showing he has taken control of his own destiny and that while he loves his work, he will no longer destroy himself to produce it.]] Also "Life is life, and she does not bend/To the wishes and wills of Gods or Men."

The primary story arc concerns Staley's relationship with Diane Bourdon, a twenty-three-year-old {{Goth}} college girl who seems at first to be a ManicPixieDreamGirl, but [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome this relationship soon devolves into a dysfunctional, codependent nightmare]] that threatens to consume the both of them.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Trent, Vance, Diane. It's like a trauma contest.

-->-- Trent Staley's motto.

->''"Life is Life, and She does not bend//

-->-- Trent Staley

* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: Trent is named for Trent Reznor and Layne Staley. Amusingly, he planned on naming the protagonist of ''Midnight City'' after Kurt Cobain and Mick Jagger, but decided this was "[[HypocriticalHumor gimmicky]]." In addition, the protagonist of one of his short stories is named for Chuck Beaumont, a writer for ''Series/TheTwilightZone.''

Rounding out the cast are Maria, a PerkyGoth who takes an interest in Trent's art and writing, her guitarist boyfriend, a booksmart LovableJock named Connor, a BlackAndNerdy aspiring journalist named Roger who relentless pursues Trent for the school newspaper, and the HippieTeacher Miss Yorke who encourages his creative output. As the plot develops, Trent's novel and short stories begin to reflect his tumultuous reality, and we watch his CreatorBreakdown through the lens of his SurrealHorror and Photoshopped Artwork.

* TaughtByExperience: Trent, like Starrett, is entirely self-taught as both an artist and writer. {{YMMV}} as to how much this shows.

* WhamLine: [[spoiler: Diane, in a drunken breakdown, cries "I didn't kill my baby." This reveals she had a miscarriage, and that she was blamed for this by her parents. It also reveals that Diane's controlling, manipulative behavior towards Trent isn't just because she is trying to groom him for sex, but as a ''{{Squick| surrogate child}}.'']]

* WhamLine: [[spoiler: Diane, in a drunken breakdown, cries "I didn't kill my baby." This reveals she had a miscarriage, and that she was blamed for this by her parents. It also reveals that Diane's controlling, manipulative behavior towards Trent isn't just because she is trying to groom him for sex, but as a ''{{Squick|surrogate child}}.'']]

* WhamLine: [[spoiler: Diane, in a drunken breakdown, cries "I didn't kill my baby." This reveals she had a miscarriage, and that she was blamed for this by her parents. It also reveals that Diane's controlling, manipulative behavior towards Trent isn't just because she is trying to groom him for sex, but as a ''{{Squick surrogate child}}.'']]