Great writing, but here is a quibble regarding the "...pretty girl, maybe 23 years old. She’s not beautiful... she’ll... be a very good wife for someone."
Ouch. I know he's just day-dreaming there, and his point is that she is a "normal" person. But why define her success in terms of being a "wife for someone"? She could -already- be an incredibly successful, independent person living life on her own terms, making her own rules.
And for all we know, she may be just as alienated from normalcy as the author. Sorry to nitpick but this hit home for me.
Ouch. I know he's just day-dreaming there, and his point is that she is a "normal" person. But why define her success in terms of being a "wife for someone"? She could -already- be an incredibly successful, independent person living life on her own terms, making her own rules.
And for all we know, she may be just as alienated from normalcy as the author. Sorry to nitpick but this hit home for me.