Money

Through each of her character's complex financial circumstances, the author explores the relationship between monetary stability and contentment. In Ethan's first chapter of the novel, the revelation of his father's longtime secret forces him "to think differently about [his] father" (10). Ethan has always known Gil has money. However, when he learns his father has a second family he is not caring for, Ethan realizes how entangled Gil's success and wealth are with his power obsession. "Women always want money," Gil tells his son shortly after splitting up with Abby (11). What he is really saying, Ethan later realizes, is "that money had to do with sex. Not for direct payment...but for showing off, for shining bright, for expecting and taking more" (12). Because Gil's character reappears in almost all of the other narrators’ chapters, the author is able to use him as a symbol of greed. Indeed...