Interconnectivity of Human Lives and Experiences

Both the novel's complex structure and network of narrative voices allow the author to explore the ways in which each individual's life is dependent upon, and impacted by, the lives of those around her. By alternating between a multiplicity of first person accounts and a third person narration of Maddie's experiences and consciousness, the author illustrates how even the smallest decisions and actions of one individual may influence her friends and acquaintances alike. Though many of the first person narrators are only minor or peripheral characters, each of their narrative voices works to shape the vivid world in which Maddie attempts to establish her independence.

Maddie's work to search for the truth of Tessie Fine and Cleo Sherwood's disappearances and deaths leads her into the worlds of innumerable other lives and backgrounds. Indeed, the overarching structure of the novel seems to...