Quincy

Most of the novel progresses in Quincy, a working-class outskirt city of Boston. Corey and Gloria move here in 2007. Corey tends to his mother through her ALS in Quincy, and only moves out into his own apartment near the end of the novel after Gloria has died. Lish depicts Quincy (and everywhere else) with vivid detail and realism. There is little scenic beauty here. Corey often stares at the marshland behind his house and in neighboring areas, and occasionally goes to the beach, which is often bleak. Many buildings he sees are in disrepair or a state of construction.

In tandem with the imagery of the city, there is also the population. The ancillary characters with whom Corey interacts are working-class men. Some of them are alcoholics, some of them are drug addicts, and nearly all of them approach their jobs as necessary means to an end, rather...