In the industrial town of Aspra Spitia, where the concrete seems to breathe the heavy fumes of the nearby aluminum factory, Marina lived as if she were a visitor to her own species.
At twenty-three, she found the rituals of human life—the kissing, the touching, the constant noise of socializing—to be strange and vaguely repellent. Instead of joining the world, she studied it through a screen, captivated by the mammal documentaries of Sir David Attenborough. In her mind, his name became , a private label for her own detached, scientific observation of the "human animal". In the industrial town of Aspra Spitia, where
Marina spent her days driving a van for the factory and her evenings watching her father, Spyros, slowly fade away. Spyros was an architect who believed the 20th century was "overrated" and that he had spent his life designing "ruins with mathematical accuracy". As his body weakened, they shared a quiet, unconventional intimacy, often imitating the bird calls and animal rituals they saw on television. In her mind, his name became , a