There is the a strong sense of reminiscence about these stories, almost nostalgia, perhaps even a bit of bemusement, as though the narrator can't quite believe his younger self did the things he's writing about (see "Style - Tone"). It's also important to note that there is also the strong sense that the stories are being told with a degree of distance from the events they're describing - distance not only in terms of being older, but also in terms of perhaps being wiser, possibly less lonely, certainly more straight and/or sober. In "Dirty Wedding," for example, he seems to be deliberately antagonizing the vulnerable Michelle, while in "Beverly Hotel" he clearly indicates that he's keeping both the women he becomes involved with at a distance. This impression results from the almost reverence with which the narrator frequently refers to the safety and friendliness of The Vine (see "Objects/Places"), the portrayal of himself in his few friendships (particularly with Georgie, Wayne, and Jack Hotel) as seeming almost desperate for companionship, and even from his near-obsession with the Mennonite couple in "Beverly Hotel." It's important to note, however, that in spite of this apparent loneliness he also, and just as clearly, is reluctant and/or unable to get too close to people, particularly women. On a more sub-textual, implied level, the reader gets the impression that the narrator is struggling to keep a deep, desperate loneliness at bay - that he is searching for a physical, spiritual and sexual home. He is occasionally referred to by his nickname, Fuckhead, a derogatory epithet that, in the minds of both the narrator and the friends who call him by that name, very clearly defines him as someone who makes stupid mistakes. He is, for example, never referred to by name. Other than that, there are very few details - little or no sense of childhood background, of the forces that shaped and/or defined him (and in particular his drug use), or of the forces that have apparently moved him away from drug use and into a clearer mindset. Some things seem very clear - that all the stories are being told by the same person, that that person is male, that he is a heavy drug user, that he's relatively young (in his early twenties) and that he is less than successful at sustaining relationships with women. In the collection as a whole, and in the individual stories, there is very little information about who is speaking.
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