Knut
A character named Knut has a unique perspective on the value of writing. Worth noting is that it comes to the reader secondhand by way of Estelle. You have to depend upon the veracity of Estelle to accept at her word that which is Knut’s idiosyncratic perspective:
“Knut never read. He used to say authors were like musicians who never get to the point.”
Estelle
Estelle, on the other hand, is allowed to speak for herself. In doing so, she offers a fantastically alternative view regarding the importance of writers and their work:
“That's the power of literature, you know, it can act like little love letters between two people who can only explain their feelings by pointing at other people's.”
A Figure on a Bridge
A bridge which is apparently quite conducive to suicidal tendencies features prominently in the narrative. At least two different people contemplating suicide via leaping from the bridge play a role in the story. One is young woman who is saved from going through with self-destructive act and will grow up to become a psychologist and a major player in the central events of the narrative, Her darkest moments are conveyed through metaphorical imagery:
“She spent all day in town, freezing, wandering around as if she wanted the town to see her one last time, and understand what it had done by failing to hear her silent screams.”
Feelings
One of the most poetic metaphors seems like a throwaway line, a merely flip observation about a relationship between mother and daughter. When examined with greater scrutiny and perhaps applied to one’s own situations, however, that element of being casually constructed begins to seep away. It is a tough metaphor, hitting at the root of all relationships:
“The girl always thought that the weirdest thing was that she could never be angry with her mom. The glass surrounding that feeling was impossible to break.”
Social Media
Social media in particular and the internet as just a general all-purpose metaphor come in for some rough handling. It is not so much the social media itself, of course, as the supremely limited purposes for which it is usually put to use that brings on the metaphorical dumping:
"Anyone can nurture a myth about their life if they have enough manure”