I.Q.

“IQ” is short for “Intelligence Quotient”, a scientific rating / grading system by which individual intelligence is measured. Each of the book’s narrators is identified by his/her IQ as well as his/her name. This is significant because intelligence, and presumptions of intelligence, are a significant component of the book both narratively and thematically.

The Statue of Atlas

In Classical Greek mythology, the Titan Atlas held the world on his shoulders. Donovan sets the events of the book in motion by hitting a metal sculpture of Atlas carrying the world with a large stick, causing the globe to fall off, roll into Donovan’s school gymnasium, and damage it severely. The question of who will pay for repairs to both the statue and the school plays an important role in defining events in the latter sections of the book.

The Titanic

In the early...