Later people would say that the signs had been there all along: that Izzy was a little lunatic, that there had always been something off about the Richardson family, that as soon as they heard the sirens that morning they knew something terrible had happened.
-- Narrator (1 paragraph 1)

Importance: In the first paragraph of Chapter 1, and throughout Celeste Ng’s novel, the omniscient narrator heavily foreshadows the rest of the story with meaningful language. In one sentence, as demonstrated above, the future, past, and present are obvious and unclear all at once. It is made apparent that the residents of Shaker Heights like to gossip, Izzy was an outcast, “something terrible” had happened, and the Richardsons were to blame. However, the context behind the conflict and the reasons why it happened remain hidden within the unfolding text.

Perfection: that was the goal, and perhaps the Shakers had lived it so strongly it had seeped...
-- Narrator (chapter 3 paragraph 1)