Regret Motif
Although quite happy, most of the characters in the novel seem to be living with quite a bit of regret. This bothers them by varying degrees; Olive, for example, regrets the way in which she treated her late husband, and regrets that he is not alive to see that she has become a better person than she was when they were married, but she does not have regrets about the rest of her life. Jack, on the other hand, regrets almost all of his life, and regrets that he has lived it without really connecting to anything in it. He has sped through life almost unbeknownst to himself, and he is beginning to regret not living for the moment, or taking more notice of the small things in his life that he now realizes were big things.
Characters from Other Books Motif
The characters in this novel have appeared either in a prior Olive novel or in books of their own. This is quite a pattern; Jim, Bob and Susan Burgess appear in this novel where it transpires that they have known Olive for many years, but as readers we first met them in the novel The Burgess Boys. Similarly, Isabelle is Olive's new best friend, having met her at the Maple Tree Apartments and hit it off immediately, but she has also appeared in a prior book of her own, Amy and Isabelle.
Sick Man Symbol
Denny Pelletier is feeling rather nostalgic about his life, and also feeling rather melancholy because most of his life is behind him. When he stumbles upon a sick man passed out on a bench, he witnesses the police saving his life by injecting him with Naxolone. Denny believes this is a symbol of his own life and the fact that he has many years still ahead of him; the act of saving the stranger's life symbolizes the resuscitation of his own.
Civil War Allegory
There is a double allegory in the story about Fergus and Ethel MacPherson. Fergus participates in allegorical war games, playing at strategies and re-enactments that allegorize memoirs written during Civil War days. His daughter, Laurie, tells her parents that she is working as a dominatrix and making a film about her own dominatrix exploits which she also bases on her father's civil war re-enactments, allegorizing his interpretation of eye witness history.
Duct Tape Symbol
The MacPherson home is divided into two halves by duct tape because husband and wife do not wish to have any contact with each other. This is a symbol of the permanence of this arrangement; duct tape is used to make sure that things stay securely fastened, and are unable to move either way. This symbolizes the fact that there is no negotiation or movement either way within the MacPherson marriage.
