New York City hubbub
This novel captures the constant hustle of New York City. The characters are intertwined in a lattice of information and encounters that is new every day. They meet and learn new details from each other's lives, sometimes irrelevant, but often not irrelevant at all. When Seeley and Marina reveal that they have fallen in love, that is unwelcome news to Danielle who was already dating Seeley and hoping for his approval. When Bootie starts revealing her default boyfriend's business practices, another aspect of New York is shown, the vicious dog-eat-dog business world that happens up in the sky-scrapers.
Critical opinion and art
Many of the characters are stylish and artistically enlightened. They know that Marina's book is turning out to be a dud, but they struggle to tell her that. She has already accepted an advance from a publishing house, but still the book isn't coming together and the money has run out—a depiction of the starving artist motif. She dates a publishing editor whose critical opinions have led him to considerable success, as Danielle appreciates as a documentary producer.
Journalism and truth-telling
Bootie, Danielle, and Ludovic Seeley all three have in common another imagery in their outlook on the world. They are not just aesthetic artists, but rather, they seek to evoke something true from the world. Danielle does this in exposés and documentaries. Bootie does it with investigative journalism, which he excels at a little too much in Murray Thwaite's opinion. Seeley is an editor of a journal called "The Monitor," which is concerned with current events and who's who.
Terrorism and 9/11
The novel is set in the dramatic tension of 2001 New York City. The reader knows exactly what will happen on 9/11, but the characters don't know. Their lives show the realistic unfolding of events, the transformation of their points of view and their intentions, and the novel also depicts the fear and paranoia that was felt throughout the city. They didn't know whether the attacks were over or whether other parts of the city would be targeted for more attacks. The novel shows their transfer into the fear of death.
