Lily's sister Anna says "... everyone wants to love Lily," that she's always played by different rules. Why does Anna think this?

At one point in the book, Lily's sister Anna says "... everyone wants to love Lily," that she's always played by different rules. Why does Anna think this?

I thought Anna was very insightful sister. She loved her sibling to distraction, but she was able, through that love, to see her sister as she was, not as the perfect person everyone else thought she was. I think Anna as the youngest was left to her own resources many times as she grew and luckily this helped her develop an independent, loving mind. She was not as tainted by the death of the other child as was Lily. I know people who play by other rules ... we all do. We can still love them or be friends with them, but in dealing with them, we have to be aware of that set of rules so we don't get hurt.

Anna seems to be closest to an impartial viewpoint that we get in the story. I think she is expressing her own frustration when she observes that "...everyone wants to love Lily," etc., but that it is a valid truth because on the surface Lily is an attractive personality. Her striking appearance, her wit, and her spontaneity spark people's interest, but she also has a decidedly out-of-sync side to her personality. The cartwheel in the interrogation room is as good an example as any. She runs very hot and very cold, without evident provocation.

I think this is a key element to the book's success; even after spending considerable time in Lily's head, the reader still has no real grasp of her inner self.

I agree, dianec. We really don't get to see Lily truly but it is closest to true through Anna's eyes. Everyone does want to love Lily and Eduardo's aggressive prosecution was because he sensed that about her. Lily was somewhat out of sync but she is young and who knows how that would have turned out had this crime not occurred. Anna is held to different standards but the parents do seem to worry less about her.

Lily didn't seem particularly lovable to me. Beatriz didn't like her and Katy didn't include her when she went out with her friends. Lily didn't seem to have any friends except Sebastien. She didn't seem to have any close friends from the U. S. either. Maybe Anna saw it that way because Lily's parents really loved her and her dad didn't see her realistically.