Role Reversal in Patrimony!

Am I stealing that title from someone else? If I am, sorry! It's been a long while since I finished the book (I was really good about getting summer reading done quickly this year!), so some of what I write may be inaccurate. By all means, let me know if it is! I also forewarn that this post is going to be somewhat generic--everyone else has already commented on such great things, I don't how much more there is to say! But I'll try my best to be detailed and not boring. I was just remembering when Philip takes a trip to Florida to visit Herman. Herman lives with one of his friends, whose name I can't recall. Anyway, I definitely recall Herman trying to get his friend to go out and mingle, because the ladies love him. However, he always says no, that he doesn't need to go out. When I thought of the friend's attitude, I couldn't help but think of Herman throughout the book, as he suffers with his brain tumor. I realize it's not exactly his fault, but rather a symptom of the disease, but it seems that now Herman is the one who doesn't want to go out, but rather wants to sit in his stuffy apartment all day and occasionally have his lady friend (name?) over, although most of the time I don't even think he wants her around. So, basically, I just found the role reversal of Herman and his friend to be very interesting and definitely not a coincidence. I guess it's like they say, what goes around comes around!