“I don't know why, but I suddenly felt a long way away from everybody I had known and loved when I was a girl. I missed people. For a minute I stood there and wished I could get back to that time.”
Broken relationships and falling-outs are significant themes in the story as Nancy engages in a small interaction with her neighbor Sam. The collection of stories focus on alienation that the characters suffer from due to a circumstance in their lives and lack of communication. Nancy’s husband Cliff had a fall out with Sam even though they had a friendship back in the day. By the end of the conversation, Sam extends a sentiment to connect again with his once good friend. It prompts a feeling of nostalgia for Nancy as it reinvigorates her desire to reconnect with people in her life.
“He suddenly felt he had lived nearly his whole life without having ever once really stopped to think about anything, and this came to him now as a terrible shock and increased his feeling of unworthiness.”
In the story, James Packer is an elderly man who is agitated by the actions of a younger couple which are morally wrong. His anger persists back at home when his wife reveals that she is sick and wonders why he is the unlucky one when it should be the young couple. The stories revolve around individuals having existential crises or feel withdrawn from their purpose in life. Thus, James is contending with aspects of his life and if he has led a worthy life. The occurrence at the community center during bingo arises his probes about life, morality, luck, and misfortune.
“You’re not being fair. To either one of us. Or to Dean, I might add. Think about Dean for a minute. Think about me. Think about someone else besides your goddamn self for a change.”
Most of the stories explore the marital tensions and infidelities that arise from miscommunication in relationships. In “So Much Water So Close to Home” the couple is going through marital problems due to mistrust and lack of constructive communication. Claire suspects that his husband was involved in the murder of a girl and as time passes her suspicions only escalate even without concrete proof. She goes to the extent of pushing the agenda of his husband’s involvement that their relationship in the family suffers. The quotation is Stuart’s confrontation on the issue that has become more about Claire’s self-absorption than the welfare of the family.
