Disillusionment
All three of the main characters -- Danielle, Marina, and Clarke -- are experiencing the disillusionment of their 20s. While each of them showed much promise in the previous decade, they are all pretty much failures now. The book is the process of them recognizing their failures and adjusting their expectations. At 30, none of them have so many options now. The stakes are higher, and their time is precious. Having established her career, Danielle tries to pursue a relationship, but she lucks out twice. Her lover becomes Marina's husband, which is lucky for Marina because her career as an author is a joke. She readily accepts Seeley as her provider. She also really loves him. For his part, Clarke tries to opt out of his responsibilities and poor fortune by hitching his wagon to Cohen's. Unfortunately Cohen can't keep a job either, and Clarke is back on his own. Each of these characters experiences regret over wasted potential and the overwhelming disillusionment of the promises of their youth in light of significant failures.
Manipulation
In light of the consequences of certain life decisions, each of the main characters resorts to manipulation in order to improve their circumstances at some point. This manifests in romantic relationships mostly. Everyone is pretty much lonely and scared, so they make a lot of compromises in their relationships. Clarke essentially pursues a relationship with a wealtheir, younger man in order to benefit from his financial support. He doesn't want to work the kinds of jobs that he must to sustain himself, so he turns to Cohen as a sort of savior. Danielle begins relationships with two men at once, using Thwaite as a backup to her preference, Seeley. She genuinely cares about both men, but she forces Thwaite into a compromising position in his marriage. Marina jumps at the opportunity to pursue Seeley when he becomes her editor. Although she does genuinely care for him, she uses their engagement as leverage to get him to publish her book even though it really wasn't worth publishing. Her career was a failure, but Marina manages to marry a more successful person.
Iconoclasm
Bootie's character represents a threat to each of the characters. He's young, eager, and pushy. He represents everything that Danielle, Marina, and Clark wish they could forget: youth, opportunity, promise, etc. When he uncovers the corruption in Thwait's company, he becomes enemy #1. His very youth threatens Thwait's long-standing little empire. If Thwait had been open to new ideas, he would've taken his nephew's challenges as opportunities to reform. Alas, he preferred to maintain the status quo. After the tragedy of 9/11, Bootie disappears, assumed to be dead. His fresh perspective got him into trouble with Thwait, so he leaves the city entirely. He takes his curiosity elsewhere, always running from Thwaite. The chase is an iconic one: the past pursuing the future but never catching up.
