Just about every major character in the novel has an important secret they are keeping from the other characters. Mauro hides from Elena that Talia is locked up, making up excuses for her absence when they call each other. Elena keeps the fact that she was raped from everyone. Karina keeps her suicidal ideation and anxiety secret, just as Nando hides the fact that he was beaten by bullies. Talia keeps her crime secret from her mother. Perla conceals the fact that Elena’s father left her for another woman.

The one secret everyone is keeping from everyone else is a feeling of personal responsibility that the family is separate and that things have not worked out the way they were intended. The keeping of secrets, in the final analysis, is overcome. Karina reports that her family has entered into a new era of truth telling. Secrets function as a way for family members to protect one another from harsh realities they have experienced but from which they wish to spare others.