The First Kiss
The narrator's first kiss experience does not go well, leaving him searching for metaphorical imagery to describe his emotional state. "I sat stiffly in my seat as if trapped behind the steering wheel in an invisible car crash...I felt as if I'd walked out of myself, leaving behind an eviscerated." This is the kind of language that is only reserved for those awful childhood experiences that linger into adulthood. Indeed, so traumatic is his first kiss that it follows him throughout life.
The Second Kiss
The traumatic effects that follow him through his life is not just left to the imagination. The narrator's second kiss is haunted by the memories of the first. "It's plagued me ever since, coming back like malaria, adrenalized terror and misery swarming through me, hands shaking." Again, this language is not just metaphorical, but also literal to a certain degree. In the sense that he will be plagued by the successive failures of each disappointment. The comparison to a recurring disease is particularly apt.
Ian
That nightmare of a first kiss is just as much the fault of the girl's boyfriend, Ian, as it is hers. The narrator later describes him as the "Sandy Koufax of Jewish bullies." Koufax was a pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1960s who threw a then-record four no-hitters over the course of a prematurely shortened career. The joke of this metaphor flies right over the head of the woman he says it to and is likely not to be understood by a good many readers.
Fatherly Advice
The narrator's father is an abusive failure who is given to spouting useless paternal advice. "You can't hide not having any character, Sonny Boy. If you don't have any, it always shows. Like a hypochondriac trying to check his pulse but unable to find it." While his dad may not have any useful advice, he certainly has a talent for framing it in figurative language. And yet, ultimately, it is still meaningless. The simile that tries to establish a comparative quality between a hypochondriac actively looking for a pulse that obviously exists and a person who has no character to find is tenuous if not spurious.
Morning Commute
The present-day premise of the novel is a three-day trip to Boston so that protagonist can visit his mother who is in a living care facility. "The subway ride into Manhattan doesn't fully belong to the awoken world either...a few homeless men sleeping across the seats, blankets so blackened they look made of cast iron; it's like this train is transporting exhausted spirit miners out of a supernatural mine." The trip includes this early morning commute that is more like a trip to the Underworld. The idea of a mining optimism and energy like precious raw materials is especially powerful.
