New Years Eve 1999 (Y2K)

The fact that Paul's panicked flight from Toronto after Charlie Wu's death occurs on New Year's Eve 1999 is a symbol of his world seeming to crash down all around him. It was widely believed that Y2K could engender some sort of doomsday scenario in which computers stopped functioning and civilization ground to a halt, and this possibility is discussed by Vincent, Melissa, and Paul as they prepare to go out. Paul has flunked out of school and just played a role in another person's death, so he feels as though he is facing a doomsday scenario of his own. It is this same night that he sees Charlie Wu's ghost for the first time.

The Hotel Caiette

The Hotel Caiette is the symbolic hub of the web of interconnectivity that unites all of the main characters in the novel. It is...