Marriage
The stories explore the institution of marriage but not exclusively as they also focus on other human relationships. With marriage at the center of the narratives, the author highlights the dynamics in strained marital relationships that are likely to fail. In the tale “Debarking” we follow the recently divorced protagonist, Ira, navigating the dating pool after disembarking from the failed marriage. This motif continues in “Paper Losses” where a middle-aged couple struggles to rekindle their marriage which has lost the youthfulness it once had. A few stories focus on fledgling relationships in which one of the partners is unhinged or unstable, compromising the potential of a connection.
Loss
The characters in the short stories are dealing with some sort of loss in their lives. Falling out of love is a primary theme in most of the stories where marital relationships have lost the bond. This fragility is brought on by the bad blood that has built up over time and now is exploding onto the surface. In the story “The Juniper Tree” the narrator is coping with the death of her friend Robin with whom she failed to visit before the ordeal. Apart from the strained human relationship, the narratives are set on the backdrop of post-9/11 America. As such, the populace harbors this loss that is felt across the board that is a mix of the lives lost and the uncertain future.
Passage of Time
The crossroads that the characters find themselves in their lives are largely due to aging or rather the passage of time. The middle-aged characters have reached a juncture that requires them to make hard choices by creating a new path going forward. Relationships suffer over time especially if ill wills and idiosyncrasies are not resolved or pointed out as time passes. In “Paper Losses” the couple has to come to terms with the faded version of themselves that is a complete opposite of their former younger selves. Similarly in “Wings” KC comes to accept that time has passed and her voice is not the same and her musical career has reached an impasse. The weight of time is sensed in their lives as they make major adjustments moving forward from divorce, death, and desperation.
