What do you do think is the significance of the magical doors in this novel? How do you think that their meaning and purpose changes over the course of the novel?

In each chapter of this novel there is a separate scene featuring a character who has no obvious connection to the main narrative. What do you think is the purpose of these scenes? How do they help to illuminate Saeed and Nadia’s story? 

In Saeed and Nadia’s final home in Marin, there is a feeling that “the apocalypse appeared to have arrived and yet it was not apocalyptic” (215). What do you think is meant by “the apocalypse,” and what are some ways in which it has been accommodated?