Summary

Barrett Meeks walked through a snow-covered Central Park on the way home from a dentist appointment, reflecting on his most recent in a series of "progressively terse and tepid breakups", an unexpected jilting by text message he had experienced four days earlier. He thought about his disappointing relationship history and how he was feeling, at 38 years old, increasingly worn out. Looking up, he saw an unusual and spectacular celestial light, and was struck with a profound feeling that something from above was somehow focusing upon him. The light disappeared, and he continued toward his Bushwick home.

Analysis

This small opening segment, which is narrated in the past tense from Barrett Meeks' point of view, provides a window to both the interior and exterior landscape of Barrett Meeks. On the outside, readers are shown a snow-covered New York City, the groundscape of...