“Years ago, she had watched her late mother’s mind slip away. It started with occasional forgetfulness, familiar names and dates elusive. But Tova does not forget phone numbers or find herself searching the back of her mind for names.”

Early in the novel we see hints of the attitude society has toward the elderly and the fear Tova has of losing her sense of self to old age. This disconnect between her fear of growing old and her fear of burdening others becomes a pivotal driving force in her story.

“Tova wonders sometimes if it’s better that way, to have one’s tragedies clustered together, to make good use of the existing rawness. Get it over with in one shot. Tova knew there was a bottom to those depths of despair. Once your soul was soaked through with grief, any more simply ran off, overflowed, the way maple syrup on Saturday-morning pancakes always cascaded onto the table whenever Erik was allowed to pour it himself.”

One of the major themes of the novel is the effects of Unresolved Grief. Tova and her friends in the Knit-Wits are of an age where grieving has become an inescapable part of life; however, Tova has never been able to fully overcome the loss of her son because of the mystery surrounding his death. Here she examines her loss through the filter of a happy memory, showing how prevalent her son still is in her everyday life.

“Once I am out of my tank, I must resubmerge within eighteen minutes or I will experience The Consequences. Eighteen minutes, I can survive out of water. This fact is nowhere to be found on the plaque by my tank, of course. I have determined this myself.”

Here the author effectively creates foreshadowing by using specificity and stylistic grammar. The reference to “eighteen minutes” as well as the emphatic use of capital letters show the reader that these details will later become essential to the story. By using an imposed time constraint, they’re able to build tension and suspense.