The Town

Most of the novel takes place in an unnamed suburban town. At the beginning of the novel, most of the central characters live on one specific street in the town. The town is described as fairly idyllic and stereotypical. However, much like the book overall, the town also has unrealistic, slightly unnerving elements. For example, a family of robots occupies one of the houses on the street, and a mysterious being named Downie sometimes wanders invisibly through the houses.

The Bardo

Part of Marjorie’s storyline takes place in an area that appears to be metaphysically separate from—and parallel to—the corporeal world. One of the chapter titles refers to this area as ‘bardo,’ which is a Buddhist term referring to the state between life and rebirth. Thus, when Marjorie enters this area, it is likely that she is dead. Within the bardo are landmarks such...