“It was like swimming beyond the coral reefs and snorkeling out to where the shelf dropped off. One moment, you’re studying the white-pink sand below; the next, you’re over a blue-black abyss and staring into darkness.”

Adam uses a simile to compare his mind and moods to the ocean. The “white-pink sand” is the landscape of mania, while the “blue-black abyss” is depression. The shift between the two is abrupt, suggesting his instability.

“A surge of electricity shot through his limbs, a tingling sensation that made him feel like he was having an out-of-body experience, watching himself from above both as the quarterback and the fan.”

Having closed on a large financial transaction, Ken feels a figurative burst of electricity course through his body. He both inhabits and sees himself from outside his body. The narrative uses a metaphor to describe the experience. Ken is “the quarterback,” meaning that he controls the game. He is also “the fan,” observing the quarterback.

“A familiar dread beat its wings inside Abby’s chest.”

Abby is reluctant to speak of her art as the interviewer for Art Observer walks with her along the beach. Brodeur personifies Abby’s sense of dread. She gives it lifelike, animate qualities, in this case the ability to “beat its wings.”