by Chris Ware
First published 2012
A woman in her thirties lives alone in her Chicago apartment, watching days pass as she searches for lasting connection. Below her, a couple questions whether their relationship can survive another argument, another sleepless night of doubt. Their elderly landlady occupies the building's upper floor, having spent decades in solitude after a lifetime of loss. Each tenant moves through daily routines while wrestling with isolation and the weight of unfulfilled expectations. The building itself becomes a silent witness to their parallel struggles with intimacy, aging, and the gap between what they hoped their lives would become and what they actually are. Ware presents their stories without traditional linear structure, allowing readers to piece together the emotional landscape of three people sharing physical space but remaining fundamentally alone. The work explores how proximity doesn't guarantee understanding and how the search for meaningful human connection persists across different stages of life.
Genres: literary-fiction, domestic-fiction, contemporary, adult-fiction
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: nonlinear-structure, parallel-narratives
Setting: Chicago
Period: 21st-century
246 pages · Hardcover · Jonathan Cape