But then what of me remains here? / A sense of tiredness. / I was always tired. / There was never a time I was not tired. / Not when life had its claws in me and not when I escaped from it. / I did not live with intent, I only lived. / But that's all over now.
-- Kazu (chapter 1)

Importance: Kazu reflects on the similarity between his life and his current existence as a ghost and finds that he feels much the same. He is pervaded by a sense of exhaustion and despair. He lived his life working, letting the tide of the next job move him along, rarely seeing his family and never stopping to contemplate whether he was happy. After living for many years with regret, Kazu died by suicide, believing this would release him from his pain, but it has not. This and many other sections of the novel that express profound emotion are...