This Must Be the Place

Content Warning: This section discusses alcohol addiction, gun violence, abortion, eating disorders, death, grief, and trauma.

Daniel is the protagonist of the novel and the primary point-of-view character. The opening and closing chapters are both in Daniel’s first-person voice. The opening line, “There is a man” (3), compared with the last line, “‘Yes,’ I say. ‘I am’” (382), indicates that this is the story of how Daniel grows into his identity. Throughout the novel, he works through The Dissociating Nature of Trauma and The Isolating Effect of Secrets to heal old wounds and build a life for the future.

Daniel is a middle-aged Irish American who grew up in New York City and studied to become a linguist in the UK. He lost his mother when he was 24 and moved to California, where he married and had two children. He is described as charismatic by his friends and family. His children love him, and he is a devoted father. However, he is also deeply troubled, haunted by his past relationship with Nicola and his daughter’s death.

As the narrative unfolds, his struggles with trauma and loss reveal his flaws and weaknesses, which include alcohol addiction and self-destructive behavior.