Structure

The primary point to note about the book’s structure is that it doesn’t really have one. There is nothing as formal as a chapter, nothing as shape-making as a clear through-line of thought, nothing as focused as a central character’s journey of transformation. The book is, in many ways, a stream of consciousness conglomerate of ideas, experiences, and illuminations in the form of quotes from other authors. That is: thought triggers thought, experience triggers thought, thought triggers illumination, illumination triggers memory, memory triggers thought, all interacting in a style that lacks an obvious considered formal trajectory but which does, more often than not, suggest connections that are less random than they might initially appear.

That said, there is arguably a climax of sorts: the narration, late in the book, of the birth of the author’s child, counterpointed and juxtaposed with comments from the...