What is the importance of New York City in the novel, We Are Water?

New York City is a key setting in the narrative, with present-day scenes involving secondary protagonist Annie Oh taking place there. Its sense of being a center of cultural and economic activity, in America and in the world as a whole, adds an important layer of implied context to the scenes taking place there, with its sophistication and urbanity providing a vivid and telling contrast to the scenes taking place in Three Rivers.