How does Ed Kapenash view what he sees as his “swan song”? What does this say about him?

Discuss the recurring motif of writing and the larger themes it speaks to within the story. How does Hilderbrand depict women writers?

How do the novel’s settings—the Field and Oar, Triple Eight, Hedonism and Decadence, Nantucket as a whole—play into its plot, themes, and ideas?