This quote occurs after Alison has quickly explored her associations with her father, from early childhood (when he was a fun-killing presence) to her teenage years when they bonded over books after Alison enrolled in Bruce’s high school English course. Fiction brings Bruce and Alison together, and they grow even closer once they are physically separated in reality. The tragic irony of Bruce and Alison’s relationship is that the father and daughter were really quite similar—both were bookish and struggling with society’s (and their family’s) expectations that went against their queer gender identities. However, they only really ever got to…