Beautyland

The same month during which Adina moves into an apartment near the 7 train and two airports is the month during which astronomers discover that a star in the constellation Aquarius is orbited by seven Earth-size planets. She meets Lionel, who operates a halal food truck and offers advice on living in the city. Adina gets a job as a receptionist for Landry Business Solutions, though she doesn’t understand what work they do. The newly discovered star is named TRAPPIST-1. Adina doesn’t call Dominic or Toni but instead watches the sitcom Friends, which she also doesn’t understand.

Adina types up her previous faxes and stores them. She notices that her neighbor has three ceramic geese on her stoop that she dresses in seasonal attire. Time passes; fashions change. Adina’s mother gets her GED and takes college classes. In the city, Adina adopts a dog that she names Butternut.

At an office meeting one morning, Adina learns that her boss, Santino, loves Snoopy, a character from the Peanuts comic strip. They hear that the Twin Towers have been attacked by airplanes and are evacuated from the building. In the post-9/11 world, Adina sends faxes to her superiors trying to define and describe the city.