Chapter summaries Aftertaste Daria Lavelle

Chapter 36: || – A Second Death and the Temptations of the Afterlife

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The narrator describes her second death, which she chose intentionally. After months of searching, she finds a secret death club called Brink, located in a former Asian fusion restaurant in the Meatpacking district. The club is lavishly decorated with defaced opulent furniture and draped in shrouds and candles, creating an eerie in-between atmosphere. Around midnight, psychopomps dressed like djinn arrive to escort guests to deathbeds. The narrator willingly accepts, allowing a psychopomp to inject her with poison. As she dies, she whispers to Everleigh that she is coming.

She passes through the veil between the Living and the Dead and arrives in the Afterlife: a sprawling Food Hall that resembles a tourist destination. Every direction offers delicious food—crepes, ice cream, prosciutto, chocolate. The narrator’s cravings become overwhelming. She enters a sweetshop and finds a black box containing four confections. Without thinking, she eats a peanut cup that tastes like a Reese’s, which triggers a powerful memory of Everleigh and Halloween. The memory breaks her trance, and she panics, realizing she is wasting time looking for Everleigh. She shivers, and the candy shop dissolves. Back at Brink, the antidote has been administered.

The psychopomp asks how she feels. The narrator answers “hungry.” The psychopomp says that is normal, but the Hunger proves to be a lingering taint from the Afterlife that follows her back into the living world.

Key Events

  1. The narrator locates the death club Brink in the Meatpacking district.
  2. Psychopomps lead guests to deathbeds; the narrator is chosen and injected with poison.
  3. She dies intentionally and travels to the Afterlife, which appears as a Food Hall.
  4. Distracted by cravings, she enters a sweetshop and eats a peanut cup.
  5. The candy triggers a memory of Everleigh and Halloween, breaking her trance.
  6. She returns to her body at Brink as the antidote takes effect.
  7. The narrator says she feels “hungry,” and the psychopomp dismisses it as normal.
  8. The narrator realizes a supernatural Hunger has followed her home.

Character Development

  • The Narrator: Previously she experienced death accidentally; now she chooses it to reach Everleigh. This shows her determination and desperation. The ease with which she gives in to temptation in the Food Hall reveals her vulnerability to cravings and the danger of losing focus. Her panic upon remembering Everleigh demonstrates that her love is a stronger force than the Afterlife’s pleasures, but the lingering Hunger suggests she may be permanently changed.

  • Everleigh (Ev): Though not present, Everleigh is the narrator’s sole motivation. The memory triggered by the peanut cup reinforces her central importance and the emotional bond between them.

  • The Psychopomp: An unnamed guide who facilitates the death ritual. She is calm and professional, but her dismissal of the Hunger as normal hints at a deeper mystery.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

  • Choice and Agency: The narrator’s second death is voluntary, contrasting with her first death. She actively seeks out the Afterlife, showing a willingness to risk everything.

  • Temptation and Distraction: The Food Hall represents a paradise of sensory pleasures that nearly derails the narrator’s mission. The candy shop and the peanut cup symbolize how even small indulgences can pull someone off course, especially when grief and hunger intertwine.

  • Memory as a Lifeline: The taste of the peanut cup triggers a vivid memory of Everleigh, which snaps the narrator out of her trance. Memory acts as a compass back to her purpose.

  • The Hunger: This motif appears as a literal and metaphorical craving. Normal hunger after dying is dismissed, but the narrator’s Hunger is different—a supernatural force that follows her, possibly representing an unresolved attachment or a side effect of crossing the veil.

  • The In-Between: Brink is described as the “ghost of a party,” an in-between space. The Afterlife itself is a liminal food hall, neither heaven nor hell but a mundane, tempting realm. This reflects the narrator’s own liminal state between life and death.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 36 deepens the mystery of the Afterlife and introduces the central obstacle: a supernatural Hunger that may haunt the narrator. It confirms that the Afterlife is not a simple checkpoint but a place with its own rules and temptations. The chapter also raises the stakes: the narrator’s mission to find Everleigh is now complicated by an addiction-like desire for the pleasures of the dead. The peanut cup memory provides an emotional anchor, reminding readers why the narrator can’t give up. This chapter sets up a new conflict—the Hunger that followed her home—that will likely drive the plot forward.

Study Questions and Answers

  1. Why does the narrator eat the peanut cup despite being in a hurry to find Everleigh?

    • The Overwhelming sensory appeal of the Food Hall overpowers her will. The candy shop beckons, and the box appears instinctively. She acts without thinking, a testament to the seductive nature of the Afterlife. Only the sudden memory of Everleigh breaks the spell, revealing that her emotional connection is stronger than the immediate craving.

  2. What does the peanut cup symbolize in this chapter?

    • It symbolizes a memory trigger and a test of will. The taste of a Reese’s-style peanut cup evokes a specific shared moment with Everleigh (Halloween), which reorients the narrator toward her true goal. It also represents the danger of getting lost in nostalgia or indulgence when a mission demands focus.

  3. How does the narrator’s second death differ from her first, and what does that suggest about her character?

    • Her first death was accidental and passive; the second is deliberate and active. She plans, searches for a death club, and submits to the ritual. This demonstrates a shift from victim to agent. She is now willing to risk her life (and perhaps her soul) to be with Everleigh, showing a fierce, even reckless devotion.

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