Perhaps because Phillips's original genre was the short story, her novels usually consist of numerous separate and vivid episodes, told from various points of view. In Machine Dreams, Danner narrates six sections, Mitch and Billy four each, and Jean three. The overall effect is a mosaic which conveys events accurately and allows the reader to understand the attitudes and motives of all the major characters.

Phillips also suggests that the lives of her characters are essentially a microcosm for events in the larger society.

Thus, she carefully sets the Hampsons' personal conflict against the backdrop of national conflict surrounding the Vietnam war.

Another hallmark of Phillips's style is its poetic quality, especially the lyrical quality of her prose and her vivid description of significant events and scenes. When Danner and Billy pry up the floorboards in their house to see its foundation, clearly their action is symbolic as...