Meaning of life
The short novel shows an individual who is struggling to come to terms with his place in the world, dealing with past and trying to look towards the future. Having lost everything his family in a seemingly senseless car accident, he is struggling with the acceptance that they are gone and that he has to find himself anew. Meeting an attractive and wild Flower Cannon, he is intrigued by her, but soon discovers that their worlds don't go together, and that she is a representation of something long gone, something he's no longer a part of. In the final pages of the novel, Mike decides to leave everything familiar behind him. He decides to find himself again and find the meaning of life in a completely new world.
Dealing with grief
Mike calls himself recently widowed, despite four years having passed since his loss. He understands that it is not a short time, but time passes differently to those who are dealing with pain and grief. He is in a state of numbness where he can't feel anything, only a detachment from the world. In his grief, Mike is struggling to form connections with people, real connections at least. He describes having deep conversations with others in his head, but those conversations are directed towards himself instead. Losing his loved ones, he can't help to see his daughter, his wife in others, and wonder about the lives they might have had. The only way for him to move forward is to leave every trace of his old life behind.
