“Here is another relationship chilled by the fast-talking man in the red tie. It’s not fate and not coincidence.”
Holly is one of Stephen King's most political books to date. This quote specifically references former President Donald Trump, who wore a red tie because he is a member of the Republican party. In Holly's life—and in the lives of many others—Donald Trump and his Presidency resulted in relationships being broken or damaged. King's novel makes the point that Donald Trump, and people like him, have done irreparable harm to the country and to relationships. This naturally happens, the book argues, because of the kind of person that Trump is.
"This is how addicts think and behave: they rearrange the furniture of their lives to make room for their bad habits.”
This quote reflects one of Holly's closest-held beliefs. She has had enough experience with addicts and addictive behavior to know how addicts deal with life. To make room for their addiction, they push away everything else in their lives, including things like furniture and even people. By their very nature, addicts are not rational, and their behavior reflects that. They will stop at nothing to continue with their habit, even though it will inevitably kill them.
“And nobody dumped a bucket of blood on her, either.”
This quote is a clever nod to one of author Stephen King's most famous novels, Carrie. In one of the most famous scenes in literary history in Carrie, a bucket of pig blood is dropped on a character to humiliate them. Here, the narrator expresses relief that Holly was not humiliated by getting blood dropped on her.
