Kira keeps her conflicted feelings about work, grief, and motherhood hidden, not wanting to burden her family with them, with the result that she’s troubled with anxiety. Motherhood makes demands that she knows she can’t perfectly fulfill. Backman suggests, later, that perhaps it’s this focus on perfection—“winning”—that’s misplaced; maybe Kira really does have enough to offer everyone, even if she doesn’t feel that way.