The structure of the book has chapters set in the present (May) alternating with chapters set the previous September and moving forward until the past and the present intersect. I found this structure very effective in giving the sense of the narrator going about his days and remembering events of only a few months that have shaken up his 17 years in the US. The book is something of an exploration of the ways in which different people cope with trauma and the loss of their homes. It's filled with immigrants and with people who are trying to find and/or keep their place in the world. The malaise was a little heavy at times, but there's something resembling hope at the end of the story, which is a slight reprieve from the fatalism of the rest of the book.