The Quarters

"I'm youth; I'm joy; I'm a little bird that has broken out of the egg." With these words, Zoey Elita Chance, a lover of words, thus enters the 'real world' after college graduation. She is ready to try her hand at living in New York City, although she has lived most of her life in the quiet, naïve, little Colorado town of Pristine. On New Year's Eve 1998, she hears of the state quarters to be minted by the US Treasury starting in 1999 with the Delaware quarter and ending in 2008 with the Hawaii quarter, released in order of admittance to the Union. She wonders what changes her life will endure from that moment until she finds the Hawaii quarter, the final one to be minted. A kind, sensitive, thoughtful girl, she grapples with similar and poignant questions and dilemmas that plague many of us, especially post-college females in the twenty-first century. As a college graduate with a double major in History and Literature, she is interested in current events, the human condition, and both real and fabricated stories. She takes interest in listening to others. The majority of the story is set in New York City. When the story opens, Zoey is already six years into the task of writing her first novel, Broken Things, one that she began writing as a sophomore in high school, and she is finding the task much more daunting that she expected. It becomes clear to readers that she has suffered from some emotional trauma that she parallels in her novel. She holds this distress inside herself and creates a safe avenue for her emotions in the form of Tabitha, the main character of Broken Things. Tabitha, a ballet dancer, becomes known to the readers for her desire to make everything better. Zoey abandons Broken Things on many occasions, only to be drawn back to the desire to complete it once and for all. Zoey's employment includes editor's assistant, freelance writer, waitress, cashier, and a few other odd jobs, "to pay the bills." Her freelance job, with varying assignments, opens her eyes to the importance of education as well as the value of open-mindedness and compassion. She is given the opportunity to travel, and visits places such as Mount Rushmore, San Francisco, and New Orleans, on her cross-country journey. The world is not always fair, she learns early on, and she is indoctrinated into unjust practices that make her doubt herself. She continues struggling to earn a buck, with a few small windfalls padding her bank account, always keeping alive the goal of becoming a published author. But this is not an easy road; she is reminded of this time and time again. Zoey finds love many times, but it never seems to last. She wavers on what kind of man she wants: is it Doug, the quiet young man she meets on Amsterdam Avenue? Or Rusty, the athletic, pompous young guy whom she meets in Northampton, Massachusetts? Or maybe it's Jake. Zoey finds the illusive game of love hard to play at times, in part because of the trauma she is holding in. She has a frailty that she works hard to hide from others. Throughout the novel, Zoey has the opportunity to spend time outside of New York City, and these times make her question whether or not urban life is for her. Such times are when she stays at a farmhouse in Windsor, Vermont, at a beach house on Goose Rocks Beach, in Kennebunkport, Maine, and at her parents' home in Pristine, Colorado. That gentle tug between country and city is evident throughout the novel. Zoey is a loyal, well-meaning friend, sometimes struggling with the boundaries and trials of friendships. There is Sarah, her fellow writing friend, who writes of heinous characters and situations. There is Sara, whose actions force Zoey to ponder the meaning and value of friendships. There is Nicole, an honorary sister, who Zoey claims is so very much like herself. There is Celeste, who offers a view of life through a dissimilar lens. There is Cecile, like a mentor to Zoey, reminding her to