The Exquisite

I am currently half-way through Laird Hunt's The Exquisite, from Coffee House Press. At the moment I am trying to figure out the title and its relation to the novel. The book has a little bit of a Kafka feel to it, but not as minimalistic. It's described as East Village noir, and I wonder what I'm missing as I have not spent any time (one day?) in the East Village. I feel very Midwestern at the moment. There is a character named Fish and another character asks him if it's short for Fishbach, which is the name of my (and assumedly Mr. Hunt's) editor at said press. It's delightful to see a reference to Chris Fischbach in print, as he is a really stellar person!