A walk through the East Village after reading "You" might feel unsettlingly intimate. The neighborhood, with its independent bookstores and crowded cafes, embodies the intellectual, artistic milieu that Joe Goldberg idealizes and infiltrates. Knowing his perspective, a visitor might notice the vulnerability inherent in the close quarters and bustling streets, the way personal lives unfold publicly here. The charming, bohemian atmosphere, which draws so many, can feel claustrophobic, shadowed by the awareness of how easily someone could observe, misinterpret, and become dangerously obsessed with the lives playing out in this vibrant community. The area’s very openness transforms into a landscape of potential surveillance, subtly altering the experience of simply existing within it.