Rock Paper Scissors

Feeney populates the novel with references to many different animals, some living and present, others simply objects made to look like animals. The proliferation of these animals suggests that an author like Feeney, who creates narratives in painstaking detail, intends for these real and faux creatures to hold some meaning. Given where they appear in the narrative and how the characters relate to them, their symbolic purposes are implicit.

Bob, the aging black Labrador retriever, apparently kidnapped early on, symbolizes the affection between wife and husband in Adam’s life. Adam, having pretended to be unwilling to adopt Bob, uses his collar to ask Robin to marry him. When Amelia steals Adam, she gets the affectionate dog as well. Robin secretly takes him back at Blackwater, symbolizing her intention to recapture Adam and their relationship. Robin inherits Oscar, the rabbit, when Henry dies, symbolizing fecund creativity passing from father to daughter. When Amelia and Adam arrive at Blackwater—lost and leaderless—they’re met by a flock of sheep that later peer in the windows at the confused couple, symbolizing their wandering uncertainty. Robin’s origami crane, kept by Adam in his billfold long after their divorce, symbolizes purity and longevity. Amelia tries to burn it in the fireplace, only to have Adam rescue it, which foreshadows the restoration of his relationship with Robin.