"[1][3] Shortly after the book’s publication, the media began hunting for the author's identity, and whether the protagonist’s portrayal was actually fictional, somewhat autobiographical or was critiquing a culture undergoing tectonic shifts.
[2] The novel is set in New York City during the Jazz Age, and it explores the themes of female independence, sexual liberation, and the changing social mores of the time.
After Patricia's open marriage fails, alcohol induced binges, multiple one night stands, and affairs become a mainstay.
[1][2] There is also the cultural dissonance between Victorian morality, carried into the new century, and the emerging sexual freedom that encompasses the permissibility of casual sex.
[2][3] Also, as a distraction from her devastating losses, Patricia "buys clothes she can’t afford; she gets facials and has her hair done; she listens to songs on repeat while wearily wondering why heartache always seems to bookend love.