“I walked past The Perfect Living Room, where no one ever sat because all the seat cushions were covered in stiff, clear plastic. You could walk in there and think that everything was for sale, it was so perfect. The carpet looked like it had never been walked on—which it almost hadn’t—and the baby grand by the window looked like it had never been played—which it hadn’t, since none of us could. But if anyone had ever walked in and plinked a key or sniffed the artificial tropical flowers or straightened a tie in the gleaming mirror, they sure would have been impressed at the perfect life of an architect from Hoodhood and Associates.”

Holling’s description of his family’s untouched living room introduces the reader to the value his parents place on reputation and appearances. Later in the novel, when The Perfect Living Room is ruined because of a leak in the ceiling, Schmidt continues the parallel between the room and Holling’s family. A room, and a family, can only maintain its image of perfection for so long. Mr. Hoodhood is so preoccupied with investing in a flawless reputation that he neglects to invest in his family; his Perfect House was not enough to make for a perfect family. 

“At 1:55, the bus arrived from Saint Adelbert’s to spring the other half—even Mai Thi, who had to go to Catechism since it was the Catholic Relief Agency that had brought her over from Vietnam, and I guess they figured that she owed them, even though she wasn’t Catholic.”

Holling’s narration of the Wednesday afternoon routine contributes to the novel’s setting in Long Island, NY in the 1960s. Half of his class is Jewish, and the other half is Catholic, revealing the religious demographic of the time. Furthermore, his comments about Mai Thi point to the Vietnam War and show the reader that the United States took in Vietnamese refugees at this time. Even though Mai Thi isn’t Catholic, the nonprofit that houses her has strings attached to their aid—she must attend Catechism. In one brief comment from Holling, Schmidt contributes to details of the novel’s setting as well as highlights the