comment on structure

The book is divided into 35 chapters. The first chapter is titled "Before: The Middle of Nowhere." Each of the next 34 chapters begins with a number that indicates a date followed by a title. For example, the second chapter is "9.02: Dream On." The purpose of the first chapter is similar to that of a prologue. The author's decision to title it "Before" is obviously an attempt to make the reader more aware of the dates in the title of the following chapters. There is not one chapter for each date nor is there a limit of only one chapter per date. For example, the chapters that occur on 9.02 are "Dream On," "New Girl," and "A Hole in the Sky."