Chapter 3: Eileen Lydon's Past and Present
⚠️ 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
Chapter 3 follows Eileen Lydon through a single afternoon and then expands into a full life history. After a quiet morning copy-editing in a shared Dublin office, Eileen meets Simon Costigan in a cafe. Their banter touches on Simon's friends' messy relationship, Eileen's sister Lola's upcoming wedding, and Simon's new girlfriend. Eileen returns to work, then walks home to her shared apartment. There she spends over half an hour scrolling the social media profiles of Aidan Lavin, a man she dated for three years before they broke up. The narrative then shifts to a long flashback covering Eileen's childhood in County Galway with her sister Lola and neighbour Simon, her difficult years at a convent school, her university friendship with Alice Kelleher, her first sexual experience, her visit to Simon in Paris, the beginning and end of her relationship with Aidan, Alice's mental health crisis and subsequent silence, and her parents' financial and marital troubles. The chapter ends in the present day: Eileen attends leaving parties where she tells acquaintances that Lola is getting married, adding that she is not happy for her.
Key Events
- Eileen spends her workday standardising the spelling of W.H. Auden's name in a text document.
- Simon joins Eileen in a cafe; they discuss his friends' sexual relationship problems and trade jokes about the wedding plus-one rule.
- Eileen goes home alone, eats dinner, and then spends thirty-six minutes investigating the social media profiles of Aidan Lavin and his followers.
- A retrospective account covers Eileen's childhood playing with Lola and Simon, her bullying at school, and her obsessive teenage friendship with Simon.
- Eileen moves to Dublin for university, befriends Alice, and meets Simon again; she loses her virginity in an awkward encounter.
- Eileen visits Simon in Paris, where they have sex; she breaks up with her boyfriend immediately after returning.
- Eileen dates Aidan Lavin for three years; they move in together, then break up after Alice's psychiatric hospitalisation.
- In the present, Eileen tells party guests that her sister is getting married, and confesses she is not happy about it.
Character Development
Eileen Lydon emerges as a deeply intelligent but emotionally isolated young woman. The chapter traces her journey from an anxious, gifted child to a withdrawn adult who struggles to maintain relationships. Her love for Simon is a constant thread, yet she rarely acts on it, and her relationship with Aidan ends when circumstances overwhelm them both. Eileen’s dissatisfaction with her job, her family tensions, and her drifting social circle all point to a character in arrested development—brilliant but unable to find lasting fulfilment.
Simon Costigan appears kind, measured, and slightly enigmatic. He flirts openly with Eileen yet maintains a separate romantic life. His promise that they will be “friends for the rest of our lives” is both a comfort and a cage for Eileen. His own history (epilepsy, time in Paris, political work) is sketched lightly, making him a foil to Eileen’s more exposed interiority.
Alice Kelleher is depicted only in flashback, but her role is pivotal: she is Eileen’s closest friend and a source of unwavering support. Her mental health crisis and subsequent withdrawal from contact sets off a chain of events (Eileen and Aidan’s breakup) and deepens Eileen’s sense of loneliness.
Aidan Lavin is absent from the present but haunts the chapter through Eileen’s social-media stalking. He was a loving partner, but the relationship crumbled under the weight of external pressures.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
Social media as a substitute for connection. Eileen’s silent browsing of Aidan’s profile, reading public exchanges between him and another user, highlights her inability to reach out directly. The episode mirrors the emotional distance that pervades her life.
Loneliness and miscommunication. Every relationship in this chapter—with Simon, with Aidan, with family—is marked by unspoken feelings and asymmetrical understanding. Eileen and Simon rarely say what they mean; Eileen and her mother have a raw argument about happiness.
Religion and morality. Simon’s Catholicism is mentioned repeatedly, and his light joke about Saint Augustine points to a life shaped by doctrines of chastity and grace. Eileen, who lacks religious conviction, nonetheless wrestles with questions of what a good life looks like.
Class and place. The rural farm, the Dublin tenement, the university—all mark Eileen’s trajectory. Financial trouble at home looms over her choices, and her job as an editorial assistant offers little security.
Mental health. Alice’s breakdown is treated as both a personal tragedy and a catalyst for the novel’s central relationships. It remains an off-stage event that reverberates.
Why This Chapter Matters
Chapter 3 is the emotional core of the novel’s first section. It gives Eileen a complete backstory, explaining why she behaves with such guardedness and why her bond with Simon is simultaneously vital and impossible. It also establishes the triangle of Eileen, Simon, and Alice that will drive much of the remaining plot. By ending with Eileen’s stark admission about her sister’s wedding, the chapter cements her alienation from conventional happiness and sets up the questions the rest of the book will explore: can she find a way back to connection? And what does it mean to want a “beautiful world” when you feel cut off from it?
Study Questions and Answers
1. Why does Eileen spend so long looking at Aidan Lavin’s social media profile, and what does this reveal about her state of mind? Eileen is stuck in a cycle of unresolved grief and curiosity. She cannot contact Aidan directly—their breakup was painful—so she seeks information passively. The extended search suggests she still cares but is unwilling or unable to act, reflecting her broader emotional paralysis.
2. How does Simon’s promise to be “friends for the rest of our lives” function in the narrative? The promise appears twice: once when Eileen is fifteen and once as an implicit anchor. It keeps Eileen tethered to Simon even when their paths diverge. Yet the promise is also a form of gentle rejection, offering friendship precisely where Eileen may want more. It becomes a symbol of the safe but incomplete bond they share.
3. What does the argument between Eileen and her mother Mary reveal about their relationship? The confrontation exposes a generational gulf. Mary wants sympathy and practical help; Eileen’s analytical, almost cold response (“I’m not sure why you think your unhappiness is more important than mine”) shows how Eileen has been shaped by intellectual detachment. The scene highlights the family’s inability to communicate emotionally and Eileen’s resentment of being cast as a caregiver.
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