Dear Jodi, Who are you? Seriously, I keep hearing your name but I have no idea who you are. I know you have something to do with Jonathan Franzen. Are you his ex-girlfriend? Listen. I don't know what he did to you, but…

As soon as he neared his neighborhood newsstand, handed over the exact change and had The New York Times in his hand, Irving switched from feeling he had no choices, to feeling he had a future.