Joshua Cohen (the Narrator)

Joshua Cohen (the Narrator) is a ghostwriter on the cusp of turning 40. He occasionally laments his aging process, dropping details about his weight and hair loss. A native of both New Jersey and New York, the events of 9/11 sidelined his career as a budding Jewish author. His first reader and champion, Miriam, dies in the attacks. Cohen the Narrator is in the midst of divorce from his wife, Rach, who suffered a miscarriage in her second trimester. This put a damper on the already-struggling relationship, as Cohen the Narrator did not want a baby anyway.

Cohen is living and working in a storage unit (which is in Rach’s name) when he is contracted to ghostwrite the biography of tech guru Joshua Cohen (“Principal”). Cohen agrees and helps Principal tell his story. They first meet in New York, then head to Palo Alto, where Principal...