Summary

Chapter 10, “Ghosts of New York: A Partial Account” is a list of New Yorkers and their respective causes of death. The deaths span several centuries. Some residents died of illness (AIDS, cancer, influenza) while others died from violence, accidental and otherwise. Several residents appear to express thoughts from beyond the grave, such as Susan Araki, who “still wishes someone had told her that she was dying” (101).

Chapter 11, “Johnny and Bridget” extends across much of the middle third of the novel. Unlike previous (and subsequent) chapters, “Johnny and Bridget” is told from the first person perspective. The narrator, Mike, contemplates the communiqués of an old friend, Johnny. Johnny is in prison, but smuggles out political messages to the larger world. Mike characterizes them as “long, rambling disquisitions on the progress of Western history” (104). He mentions that he tried to contact Johnny’s mother...