New York

Edie lives and works in New York at the beginning of the novel. She shares a rundown apartment outside the city with a roommate she hardly talks to. She takes the subway into the city, where she works at a large publishing house in the children's apartment. Edie's perspective on the city is not glamorous. From her position of poverty, she presents the reader with a glum portrait of the city, which is full of cockroaches, pigeons, and people who masturbate on the train. The city is so large and crowded that Edie finds it easy to get lost in anonymity. Her apartment is full of mice and she is ashamed to have Eric over because she does not want him to see how impoverished she is in comparison to him.

Amusement Park

Eric and Edie spend their first date at an amusement park. Edie is initially...