Before Nicky’s death, she and Bonnie lived together in the apartment in New York City where the sisters grew up. At the start of the novel, the sisters learn that their parents are going to sell the apartment and that someone will need to finally remove Nicky’s belongings. The apartment symbolizes the childhood and shared history between the sisters, as well as their simultaneous desire to escape and retain those bonds. At the beginning of the novel, none of the sisters have visited the apartment for almost a year, and none of them plan to; at the same time, they can’t bear the idea of anything changing there. Avery describes her financial contributions as a way of “pa[ying] for time to stand still” (57). Their inaction symbolizes the lack of progress they have made in navigating their grief; the sisters have isolated themselves from each other and the important people in their lives (such as Chiti and Pavel). They have locked up their pain just like they locked up the apartment and left it untouched.

By coming back to the apartment and sorting through Nicky’s belongings, the sisters symbolically begin to reckon with their grief and confront their shared past.