"Of course, all the best aerocompanies are here in California but in four years I have spent hundreds of dollars copying my credentials; I have worn my French suits and my Italian shoes to hand-deliver my qualifications; I have waited and then called back after the correct waiting time; but there is nothing." Part 1, Section 1, p. 17.

"My hangover had settled deep and black into me." Part 1, Section 26, p. 180.

"I stood in the cafe, not knowing if I wanted to eat something or not, but on the sound system was that meditative new age music, this very steady rising and falling of computerized notes that had all the rhythm of the respirator beside my father's hospital bed just before he died." Part 1, Section 31, p. 200.

"Usually most of them spoke in slogans, the kind of language you see on military recruiting posters on bulletin boards in community colleges: I want...