Content Warning: This section discusses the deaths of loved ones and grief.

The novel uses Grace Winters’s response to her son’s and husband’s deaths to explore how grief can control an individual’s outlook on life. Ever since Grace’s son, Daniel, died in 1992, she “ha[s] felt completely alone” (5). Furthermore, his death caused her to lose all meaning and purpose, which she hasn’t found again since. Her guilt over Daniel’s death, as she blames herself for failing to protect him, compounds her grief. Shortly before the narrative present, Grace’s husband, Karl, also died. Guilt and shame exacerbate her sorrow over losing Karl because she had an affair with her colleague years prior. She feels like she betrayed Karl by both sleeping with another man and causing their son’s death. For these reasons, Grace is numb to life in the narrative present. Her grief has caused her “to live without feeling,” an experience she likens to “a table in a closed restaurant, waiting forever for someone to occupy the furniture” (9). This metaphor captures the intensity of Grace’s guilt and grief. She is so heartbroken over losing her son and husband that she denies herself happiness and pleasure.