Though her New York is at times a bit insular and set into a map of the United States that seems to have swallowed the globe -LRB- Ms. Quindlen needs to learn that the prom is an exclusively American phenomenon -RRB- , she appreciates every particle for exactly what it can be worth -- the significance of a kitchen window in Manhattan real estate , the espionage of infidelity deconstructed through a quick trip to a restaurant ladies ' room , how far the feminism she 's always been a student of still needs to go in the workplace .