Misty Zimmerman
The book opens with a meditation on how the arc of any person's life is unknown and filled with possibilities when they are young. Those possibilities are presented as symbolic unforeseen explosions that can change everything in a moment. The book is about a nuclear family, but a teenage girl named Misty Zimmerman is really the centerpiece of this symbolism.
Galactic Superclusters
A galactic supercluster is a large group of smaller galactic clusters. Importantly, not every galaxy in the universe belongs to a supercluster. Some exist as isolated outsiders alone within the empty void of space. It is this aspect of astronomy that turns the superclusters into a symbol of connectivity among people. The is that there is no such thing as an isolated galaxy among human beings. We are all connected.
Apple iPad
The timeline of this novel spans half a century, but it is no linear. The past and the future collide in the present-day. The world which existed before the invention of the iPad is alluded to with references to how much technology has altered society. Presented in this way, the iPad becomes a symbol of the impact of technology on the dynamics of the social structure of modern—and future—society.
Loops
Ben Wilf believes that life is lived not in a linear line, but as a series of loops. These loops are comprised of all the memories and experience we bring with us to each new change. The loops also symbolize the idea of interconnectivity as patterns that lives create. Not just create, but also leave behind, always existing and impacting future lives.
The Oak Tree
A big oak tree begins the story as a crime scene. It is literally the end of the road for an ill-advised joyride fueled by alcohol and inexperience. Over time, the tree will take on more symbolic importance. The root system created by its long life is paralleled with the galaxies within superclusters. It, too, becomes another of the novel's many representations of the connection of lives made over time.
