Chapter 19 Summary: This Little Blight of Mine

⚠️ 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 chapter opens in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic triggers widespread panic. Harrison and Lauren, having survived the affair three years earlier, feel immune to the hysteria. Their driveway becomes a Thursday-night gathering spot where friends Jimbo, Chip, Martin, Soren, and others play music in the garage, forming a cover band called the Love Handles. Harrison, now a dean at the university, spends his days on the phone with students and pacing the driveway barefoot. Lauren, promoted to director of admissions, juggles remote work and homeschooling their three daughters—Coco (14), Pippi, and Ginsburg. She creates a point system to ration snacks and manages the household with an operational skill that Harrison admires.

Despite the stress, April and May feel oddly magical. The family throws the football, reinstitutes movie and board game nights, and eats dinner on the porch. Harrison’s mother visits weekly, sitting in a rocking chair with her plate. Harrison initially believes they have not lost their minds, but he admits this is a lie. His sense of time blurs; minutes and days become indistinguishable. He and his best friend, Mark, attempt to write a screenplay but struggle. To force himself to write, Harrison uses an egg timer. His mental state deteriorates, making him highly suggestible.

When the girls ask for a dog, Harrison—who grew up around guns and death and never wanted a pet—surprisingly agrees. He and Lauren pick up a chocolate Lab puppy in a Lowe’s parking lot on Coco’s fourteenth birthday. The girls weep with joy. Coco names him Gary. That night and for many nights, Gary sleeps in a crate in the living room, and Lauren gets up when he whines, sleeping with him on the couch. Harrison reflects that he never did the same for his own babies, and he starts getting up with Gary too.

By June, the virus no longer feels like a terrifying monster but an unwelcome houseguest. All markers of season and ritual vanish: no graduations, no parties, no recitals. The workday never starts or ends. The only anchor is church, which resumes with masks. Harrison plays drums; Lauren sits in the pew looking discomfited. He notes small clues: the grass dies from Gary’s bladder, the new Leyland cypresses turn brown, the lime and lemon trees produce no fruit. Sex stops; Lauren turns away in bed. A vacation in the mountains yields no intimacy; they hardly touch.

Harrison grows obsessed with finding the pattern. He asks questions about work, migraines, pills, but gets nothing. He thinks about the miscarriage and wonders if it signaled a broken covenant. He reads Tolstoy, Ferrante, Offill, and other works on infidelity; he watches Mad Men, Marriage Story, Eyes Wide Shut. Lauren tells him “you’re obsessed” and says to let it go. Harrison begins to suspect the blight might be himself, recalling the priest’s speech from Oedipus Rex where the plague is caused by the king’s own crime. He puts away the shows and books and pulls out “the biggest, weirdest book of all” (likely the Bible) seeking answers.

Key Events

Harrison and Lauren remain calm during the early pandemic while others panic.
Weekly driveway jam sessions begin with friends, forming the Love Handles cover band.
Harrison takes on a dean role; Lauren becomes director of admissions.
The family adopts a chocolate Lab puppy, Gary, on Coco’s 14th birthday.
Gary’s arrival triggers Harrison’s regrets about his parenting.
All seasonal rituals are erased by the pandemic; only church remains.
Harrison notices signs of decay: dead grass, brown trees, sparse fruit, lack of intimacy.
A mountain vacation fails to restore closeness; Lauren turns away in bed.
Harrison obsessively studies stories of infidelity, seeking parallels to his marriage.
He begins to suspect that the “blight” on his house may be himself.

Character Development

Harrison Scott Key: Shifts from post-affair confidence to anxious suspicion. His suggestibility during quarantine leads him to agree to a dog, a decision that softens his heart but also opens new regrets. He becomes a detective in his own home, trying to read omens in withered plants and distant behavior.
Lauren Key: Already a capable manager, she now appears withdrawn and uncommunicative. Her physical and emotional distance grows; Harrison cannot reach her. She dismisses his obsession as overthinking.
Gary (the dog): Serves as a catalyst for family bonding and Harrison’s self-reflection. His presence both comforts and unsettles, recalling shortcomings with the children.
Coco, Pippi, Ginsburg: Their joy over Gary highlights the family’s shared need for connection. They also become background witnesses to the growing tension.
Friends (Jimbo, Chip, Martin, Soren): Represent normalcy and community, contrasting with the couple’s private estrangement.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Blight as a metaphor: Harrison explicitly likens his household’s problems to the plague in Oedipus Rex. The dying trees, grass, and sexual drought all symbolize a hidden corruption that must be uncovered.
Time and ritual: The pandemic erases weekday–weekend distinctions, leaving only church as a marker. This disorientation mirrors the couple’s loss of relational rhythm.
Clue hunting: Harrison treats every oddity (the dog’s bladder, brown cypress, lack of lemons) as evidence of a deeper truth. His literary and TV research mimics a detective’s investigation.
The dog as redemption and burden: Gary brings joy but also demands care; Harrison’s late-night vigils echo the parenting he feels he failed at, offering a chance for repair.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter deepens the post-infidelity narrative by shifting the source of suspense from external discovery to internal suspicion. Harrison’s growing unease about Lauren’s behavior—coupled with his own psychological unraveling—raises the stakes for the marital crisis. The blight imagery and Oedipus allusion foreshadow a major revelation. The chapter also humanizes Harrison through his vulnerability and regret, making the reader wonder whether the true plague is his own blindness. It sets the stage for the next chapter, likely where the hidden thing will be made manifest.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Harrison agree to get a dog despite his lifelong aversion to pets?
Harrison’s mental state during the pandemic has eroded his willpower. He becomes highly suggestible, and the constant pleas from his daughters and Lauren wear him down. The dog also represents a need for new life and distraction in a season of death and monotony. Once Gary arrives, Harrison uses the dog to practice the attentive care he feels he failed to give his children.

2. What does Harrison hope to find by reading books and watching shows about infidelity?
He wants a map or pattern that explains why Lauren is distant. By studying fictional and historical narratives (Anna Karenina, Mad Men), he tries to determine if his wife is unhappy, cheating, or damaged beyond repair. He also tests his own role: could he be the cause, like Oedipus? The obsession reveals his need for control in a situation that feels mysterious.

3. How does the pandemic affect Harrison’s sense of time and his ability to read his marriage?
The loss of seasonal markers—no school events, no parties, no weekend boundaries—collapses the structure that normally organizes life. Without these external clues, Harrison’s internal perception becomes fuzzy. This disorientation makes it harder to distinguish real signs of trouble from pandemic-induced moodiness. The blurring echoes the couple’s emotional fog, where nothing seems clearly right or wrong.

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