History Literature / TheAmyVirus

* TheAtoner: [[spoiler: At the end, Cyan's mother becomes this, admitting that her husband scared her into promoting the sham diet and that she's never been brave enough to stand up to him until after Cyan ran away. Afterwards, she decides to divorce him and take full custody of their daughter. Then after finding Cyan in Portland and reconciling with her, she promises to expose the Good Brain Diet as the quack that it is, end the "autism remission" claims, and clear Mr. Shunsberg's name to the best of her ability]].

* TheAtoner: [[spoiler: At the end, Cyan's mother becomes this, admitting that her husband scared her into supporting the sham diet and that she's never been brave enough to stand up to him until she decides to divorce him and take full custody of their daughter. She promises to expose the Good Brain Diet as the quack that it is, end the "remission" claims, and clear Mr. Shunsberg's name to the best of her ability]].

** [[spoiler: Cyan accidentally left out the alt-weekly ad for the drum circle on her desk at home. Tam eventually finds it, which is how she and post-HeelRealization Belinda figured out where Cyan was going after she runs away]].

* DeceasedParentsAreTheBest: Inverted with Eroica's mom, who was physically and emotionally abusive to her, so Eroica doesn't miss her one bit. Eroica's father, on the other hand, is loving and caring parent.

* CordonBleughChef: Cyan's parents promote and force her to eat the quack Good Brain Diet in order to force her autism "into remission", which consists of bits of animals most people wouldn't be caught dead eating (animal brains, animal eyes, animal organs, animal skins, even ''chicken toenails'') and unripe fruits. Cyan buying some hot chocolate at a Safeway is the first sign that she is rebelling against her parents' control.

* AFriendInNeed: [[spoiler: After her parents threaten to institutionalize her, Cyan runs away the next morning on a rental bike and leaves a note for Renate to let her know that she's leaving. Renate catches up in her own rental bike, and has Eroica drive up to the upcoming town so they can bring her back. However, once they hear ''why'', she's running away, they immediately decide to help her run away to Portland so she can get away from her parents, even admitting it was worth getting grounded to do so]].

** [[spoiler: Cyan accidentally left out the alt-weekly ad for the drum circle on her desk at home, which is how her sister and her mom figured out where she was going after she runs away]].

* NeverMyFault: The defining trait of Cyan's father other than being a lying hypocrite. [[spoiler: Tam reveals to Cyan that he actually lost his IT job because he messed up some code and blamed someone else for it instead of admitting he screwed up, not because he was laid off by younger competetors as he had claimed]].

* TheRunaway: [[spoler: After Cyan's parents threaten to intutionalize her to cover up the fact that she's still autistic, Cyan runs away early the next morning, convinced that if her parents are willing to go that far, they'd be willing to kill her if they thought it could bring them more money]].

* TheStoolPigeon: Cyan's father tries to get Tam to spy on Cyan and Renate and tell him every detail because he believes the latter is a "bad influence". It doesn't work because by that point in the story, Tam isn't on the best terms with her parents, either.
* SupremeChef: [[spoiler: After Cyan and Belinda reconcile, Cyan promises to learn how to cook "so we can have meals made out of actual food"]]

* [[ScrewedByTheNetwork Screwed By The Label]]: In-universe example. For Amy's second album in 1971, the label forced her to record a song she hated. When she couldn't get it right, the label dropped her and got another girl to record it.

* NeverMyFault: The defining trait of Cyan's father other than being a lying hypocrite. [[spoiler: Tam reveals that this is how he actually lost his IT job, because he messed up some code and blamed someone else for it instead of admitting he screwed up, not because he was laid off by younger competetors as he had claimed]].
* Wiki/TheOtherWiki: Cyan obsessively checks Amy Zander's Wikipedia page, which keeps being deleted for lack of notoriety.

* TeacherStudentRomance: [[spoiler:Cyan's father]] falsely accuses [[spoiler:Mr. Shunsberg]] of this.

* AFriendInNeed: [[spoiler: After her parents threaten to institutionalize her, Cyan runs away the next morning on a rental bike and leaves a note for Renate to let her know that she's leaving. Renate catches up in her own rental bike, and has Eroica drive up to the upcoming town so they can bring her back. However, once they hear ''why'', she's running away, they immediately decide to help her run away to Portland so she can get away from her parents]].

* HeelRealization: [[spoiler:Cyan's mother eventually has one, causing her to divorce her controlling husband, take full custody of Cyan so he can never hurt her again, and try to make amends for the damage she's done.]]

* EmancipatedChild: One of the first songs Cyan writes is called "Emancipated Minor."

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The Butt's blog is one of the top sellers for the Good Brain Diet. [[spoiler: It's heavily implied that when Belinda, Cyan, and Eroica write a statement exposing the diet for the sham that it is, explaining Daniel's abuse to his family, and showing that there's nothing wrong with being autistic, the industry will be discredited due to it's top supporter denouncing it]].

* NeverMyFault: The defining trait of Cyan's father other than being a lying hypocrite. [[spoiler: Tam reveals that this is how he actually lost his IT job, because he messed up some code and blamed someone else for it, not because he was laid off by younger competetors as he had claimed]].

* TheStoolPigeon: Cyan's father tries to get Tam to spy on Cyan and Renate because he believes the latter is a "bad influence". It doesn't work because Tam isn't on the best terms with her parents, either.

* MeaningfulRename: From Cindy Butt to Cyan Beaut, as part of the process of discovering her identity and breaking away from her parents' control. [[spoiler: Her mother promises to make it official at the end]].

** Renate also sees a therapist because she's a recovering bulimic.

* BrokenPedestal: {{Discussed|Trope}} by Cyan and Renate, when the former isn't sure if she should seek out Amy out of fear that she may be a jerk. [[spoiler: Ultimately subverted when Amy is shown to be just as friendly in real life as she is on stage]].

* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: Cyan finally gets to meet the real Amy at the Portland drum store she now owns, who is friendly and helpful. This causes Spectral Amy to disappear because Cyan doesn’t need her anymore. Cyan’s mother has a Heel Realization and finally stands up to her husband, which culminates into them divorcing. Belinda promises that she’ll clear the charges against Mr. Shusburg to the best of her ability. Belinda, Cyan, and Eroica decide to work together to write a statement outing the Good Brain Diet as a scam, expose Daniel’s abuse (which would guarentee him losing full custody of Cyan and her sisters in the upcoming court case) and end the “autism remission” claims. This would shut down the industry for good. Furthermore, Cyan is allowed to legally change her name, pursue her drumming interests, and can finally get an autism diagnosis and an IEP. The best part is, the whole family can now eat anything they want, so Cyan promises to learn how to cook to make it up to her mom and sisters for running away]].

* MeaningfulRename: From Cindy Butt to Cyan Beaut. [[spoiler: Which her mother promises to make it official at the end]].

* NeverMyFault: The defining trait of Cyan's father other than his lying. [[spoiler: Tam reveals that this is how he actually lost his IT job, because he messed up some code and blamed someone else for it, not because he was laid off due to younger competetors as he had claimed]].

* SnakeOilSalesman: Cyan's parents, Dr. Nansi, and the others who promote the Good Brain Diet to "cure" autism are all this. [[spoiler: At the end, Cyan, [[TheAtoner her mother]], and Eroica decide to write a final blog post exposing the truth about the diet in order to shut down the industry]].

* BrokenPedestal: {{Discussed|Trope}} by Cyan and Renate, when the former isn't sure if she should seek out Amy out of fear that she may be a jerk. [[spoiler: Ultimately subverted when Amy is shown to be just as friendly in real life as she on stage]].

* ControlFreak: One good way to describe Cyan's father. He believes that all of his daughters are destined to be doctors and go to Caltech, and thinks being interested in anything else will automatically result in a life of poverty. He refuses to let Tam go to RSID and doesn't approve of her drawings. The worst is with Cyan, as he constantly cracks down on her, doiling punishment after punishment on her for wanting to be a drummer and constantly denying that she's autistic, [[spoiler: which culminates into Cyan running away to Portland when he tries to pull her out of school and cut her off from her friends in order to have 24/7 survellence on her]]. [[spoiler: Even Cyan's mother has had enough of it near the end]].

* BrokenPedestal: {{Discussed|Trope}} by Cyan and Renate, when the former isn't sure if she should seek out Amy out of fear that she may be a jerk. [[spoiler: Ultimately subverted when Amy is shown to be just as friendly in real life as she on stage]].

* Broken Pedestal: {{Discussed|Trope}} by Cyan and Renate, when the former isn't sure if she should seek out Amy out of fear that she may be a jerk. [[spoiler: Ultimately subverted when Amy is shown to be just as friendly in real life as she on stage]].

* AFriendInNeed: [[spoiler: After her parents threaten to institutionalize her, Cyan runs away the next morning on a rental bike and leaves a note for Renate to let her know what's going on. Renate catches up in her own rental bike, and has Eroica drive up to the upcoming town so they can bring her back. However, once they hear about what happened, they immediately decide to help her run away to Portland so she can get away from her parents]].
* {{Gaslighting}}: Cyan's parents do this to make her conform to their rules and surpress her autism. Renate [[Film/{{Gaslight}} even refers to the trope namer]] when she points it out to Cyan.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The Butt's blog is one of the top sellers for the Good Brain Diet. [[spoiler: It's heavily implied that when Belinda, Cyan, and Eroica write a statement exposing the diet for the sham that it is, explaining Daniel's abuse to his family, and showing that there's nothing wrong with being autistic, the industry will be discredited due to it's top supporter no longer supporting it]].

** Cyan decides to set up regular appointments with the school therapist, Dr. Ngo. He becomes one of her two confidants and he's the one who helps her realize that she's still autistic.

* TheAtoner: [[spoiler: At the end, Cyan's mother becomes this, admitting that her husband scared her into the sham diet and that she's never been brave enough to stand up to him until she decides to divorce him and take full custody of their daughter. She promises to expose the Good Brain Diet as the quack that it is, end the "remission" claims, and clear Mr. Shunsberg's name to the best of her ability]].

* BigSisterInstinct: Cyan's older sisters, Annabeth and Tam, treat her with much more respect and understanding than their parents do. For example, [[spoiler: when Cyan's father holds her down and tries to force her to go to school, Tam stands up to him and points out that Cyan ''actually threw up'' the previous night, so she couldn't go anywhere]].

* ControlFreak: One good way to describe Cyan's father. He believes that all of his daughters are destined to be doctors and go to Caltech, and thinks being interested in anything else will automatically result in a life of poverty. He refuses to let Tam go to RSID and doesn't approve of her drawings. The worst is with Cyan, as he constantly cracks down on her. [[spoiler: Even Cyan's mother has had enough of it near the end]].
* CordonBleughChef: Cyan's parents promote and force her to eat the quack Good Brain Diet in order to force her autism "into remission", which consists of bits of animals most people wouldn't be caught dead eating (animal brains, animal eyes, animal organs, animal skins, even ''chicken toenails'') and unripe fruits. Cyan buying some hot chocolate at a Safeway is the first sign that she is rebelling against her parent's control.

* HeelRealization: [[spoiler:Cyan's mother eventually has one, causing her to divorce her controlling husband and try to make amends for the damage she's done.]]

* NeverMyFault: The defining trait of Cyan's father other than his lying. [[spoiler: Tam reveals that this is how he actually lost his IT job, because he messed up some code and blamed someone else for it. Afterwards, he clained that he was laid off due to younger competetors]].

* SnakeOilSalesman: Cyan's parents, Dr. Nansi, and the others who promote the Good Brain Diet to "cure" autism are all this. [[spoiler: Cyan's mother decides to expose the diet as the quack that it is as one of her amends to the people that she has hurt]].

* TheAtoner: [[spoiler: At the end, Cyan's mother becomes this, admitting that her husband scared her into the sham diet and that she's never been brave enough to stand up to him until she decides to divorce him and take full custody of their daughter. She promises to expose the Clean Brain Diet as the quack that it is, end the "remission" claims, and clear Mr. Shunsberg's name to the best of her ability]].

* CordonBleughChef: Cyan's parents promote and force her to eat the quack Clean Brain Diet in order to force her autism "into remission", which consists of bits of animals most people wouldn't be caught dead eating (animal brains, animal eyes, animal organs, animal skins, even ''chicken toenails'') and unripe fruits. Cyan buying some hot chocolate at a Safeway is the first sign that she is rebelling against her parent's control.

* ControlFreak: One good way to describe Cyan's father. He believes that all of his daughters are destined to be doctors and go to Caltech, and thinks being interested in anything else will automatically result in a life of poverty. [[spoiler: Even Cyan's mother has had enough of it near the end]].

** Cyan's parents are the emotionally abusive type. [[spoiler: Cyan's mother eventually has a HeelRealization and becomes TheAtoner, while Cyan's father just gets worse]].

* TheAtoner: [[spoiler: At the end, Cyan's mother apologizes to her, admitting that her husband scared her into the sham diet and that she's never been brave enough to stand up to him until she decides to divorce him and take full custody of their daughter. She promises to expose the sham diet, end the "remission" claims, and clear Mr. Shunsberg's name to the best of her ability]].

* BigSisterInstinct: Cyan's older sisters, Annabeth and Tam, treat her with much more respect and understanding than their parents do.

* StoolPigeon: Cyan's father tries to get Tam to spy on Cyan and Renate because he believes the latter is a "bad influence". It doesn't work because Tam isn't on the best terms with her parents, either.