Chapter 24 Summary and Analysis

⚠️ 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

At an art opening in North Hollywood, the narrator and Jordi spot Kris, the ex-girlfriend and longtime muse of artist Lore Estes. The narrator feels an immediate, wordless connection with Kris. She sends a direct message arranging a date for Wednesday. Over the following days, she prepares obsessively: researching and buying lubricants, testing cannabis strains, practicing facial massage, working out, and steaming a skirt with snaps. On the night of the date, Kris arrives at the narrator’s motel room. After three hours of tense conversation, Kris admits she is nervous. They cross into physical intimacy, with the narrator lowering herself onto Kris’s lap. Kris declares the narrator a queen and offers to serve her. The narrator initially resists performing lust and simply lies beside Kris, but soon their bodies move together naturally. Kissing leads to a vivid roleplay scene in which Kris becomes “Daddy.” Kris produces a strap-on and they have intense, transformative sex. The narrator reflects that this experience feels entirely new. Kris leaves at dawn; the narrator eats a cookie in the bath, savoring the moment. Later, she tells Harris about the date; he reacts with jealousy but eventually accepts the situation. The narrator begins seeing Kris monthly, alternating between the motel room and Kris’s cottage in Oakland. Their relationship mixes deep physical intimacy and casual companionship. The narrator whispers “I love you” but frames it as an exuberant exclamation rather than a commitment. Kris gives her a delicate ring with a tiny buckle. The narrator insists on her need for fundamental autonomy, rejecting labels like nonmonogamy and instead envisioning a custom-tailored relationship. Harris asks if she might eventually live with Kris, but the narrator laughs, explaining that the future itself is what arouses her—the endless anticipation and preparation.

Key Events

The narrator attends an art opening with Jordi and feels a silent mutual attraction to Kris.
She arranges a date via DM.
She prepares obsessively for the encounter.
The date begins awkwardly but becomes sexually intense, with Kris adopting a “Daddy” role.
The narrator experiences sex as if learning it from scratch.
She tells Harris about the date; he struggles with jealousy but later becomes curious.
She begins a monthly relationship with Kris, exploring queer sex dynamics.
Kris gives her a small gold ring with a buckle.
The narrator asserts her need for personal freedom and resists conventional relationship structures.
Harris suggests she might live with Kris, but the narrator rejects the idea, valuing the excitement of preparation.

Character Development

The Narrator: Grows more confident in pursuing desire outside her marriage. She learns to separate love from commitment and embraces her “journeying soul.” Her preparation rituals reflect a need for control and anticipation.
Kris: Revealed as intensely present and dominant in the bedroom yet emotionally receptive. Her blank listening face makes her an muse-like figure, but she also shows patience and generosity.
Harris: Initially jealous, he works to accept his wife’s new relationship. His shift from outrage to detached curiosity marks a deepening of their open arrangement.
Jordi: Acts as a supportive friend, encouraging the narrator to take risks and celebrate small victories.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Preparation as a Lover: The narrator prepares for Kris with the same meticulous energy she used for her cross-country trip, Davey, and the dance. The future itself becomes a lover, “reaching backward in time to cup my balls.”
Roleplay and Transformation: The “Daddy” scene upends the narrator’s usual sexual scripts. It allows her to be both a queen (passive, worshiped) and a hungry beast. Roleplay becomes a vehicle for genuine new experiences.
Autonomy vs. Connection: The narrator insists on retaining fundamental autonomy, yet she craves deep connection. This tension drives her rejection of labels like nonmonogamy and her desire for custom-made rules.
Queer Sexuality as Discovery: The narrator rediscovers the “nonlinear, open-plan quality of lesbian sex.” Her interactions with Kris feel like starting over, free from the narratives she performed with men.
The Ring as a Token: Kris’s gift of the ring—a tiny buckle—symbolizes a bond that can be fastened or loosened. The narrator promises never to remove it, yet Kris warns she might one day want to.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 24 is a pivot point in the novel. The narrator fully enters a new sexual and emotional landscape, one that exists outside her marriage to Harris and beyond her earlier obsession with Davey. It concretizes the open arrangement she and Harris had begun to negotiate, showing how both partners adapt to jealousy and curiosity. More importantly, the chapter crystallizes the narrator’s philosophy: her deepest erotic satisfaction comes not from any one person but from the endless future—the state of wanting and preparing. This reframes the entire novel’s preoccupation with anticipation as a form of being alive.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does the narrator react negatively when Harris suggests she might live with Kris?
The narrator sees cohabitation as the death of desire. Having a stable, predictable future would eliminate the very thing that excites her: the act of looking forward and preparing. She needs the future to remain a lover, not a destination.

2. What does the roleplay scene with Kris reveal about the narrator’s sexuality?
It reveals a capacity for surrender and play that she had not accessed before. The “Daddy” dynamic allows her to let go of performance and judgment, experiencing sex as a raw, beastly need. It also highlights her ability to inhabit multiple roles—queen, girl, beast—within a single encounter.

3. How does the motif of preparation connect to the narrator’s broader life in the novel?
From the cross-country trip to the dance and now her relationship with Kris, the narrator consistently finds meaning in the ritual of getting ready. Preparation becomes a way of owning her desires and delaying gratification, which paradoxically makes the experience more intense for her. It also protects her from fully committing, keeping the future always within reach.