Point of View

The novel is told in third person limited perspective from the point-of-view of the primary protagonist, Nora Nolan. Nora is a middle-aged woman living on Manhattan's Upper West Side and dealing with dissatisfaction about the state of various aspects of her life, including her marriage, her job, and her cloistered neighborhood. Over the course of the novel, the narrator presents Nora's thoughts and feelings as they evolve from minor nagging feelings of frustration to epiphanies of self-discovery.

The narrator also provides background information on Nora's past to elucidate how she got to where she is presently. This information is interspersed throughout the novel so that a fuller picture gradually emerges. For example, on her walk to work one day, Nora passes the building in which she once lived with Jenny shortly after moving to New York City. This causes Nora to reminisce about meeting Charlie...