Chapter summaries I Think We've Been Here Before Suzy Krause

Chapter 28 (27) Summary & Analysis – “I Think We’ve Been Here Before”

⚠️ 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

Hilda continues to pick up and set down Marlen’s book, unable to finish it. She tells him the subject matter is too close to reality—reading about the end of the world while living through it feels like reading about sharks on a cruise ship. But the deeper reason is her inability to achieve the peace Marlen has found. He completed his lifelong dream and seems ready to die, while Hilda feels left behind.

Ole has been missing for nearly four days. A brief phone call with Irene yields no news; neither mentions the letter that hangs silently between them. Hilda feels guilty for being excited to pick up Nora from the airport.

To avoid the book, Hilda decides to paint her kitchen. At the hardware store, a teenager (the post-office lady’s daughter) tells her about a high-school mural being painted on the rec center. The art teacher told students that because longevity is gone, nothing matters more than anything else—instead, everything matters equally. Hilda had been thinking nothing matters at all, but finds this alternative perspective beautiful.

She initially grabs a safe cream paint swatch but is drawn to vibrant colors: green, blue, purple. The old concepts of affordable, durable, and timeless lose meaning instantly.

Key Events

  • Hilda admits she can’t finish Marlen’s book because it highlights her own inability to accept the end.
  • She and Irene have a strained phone call about Ole’s disappearance; the unmentioned letter creates tension.
  • Hilda goes to the hardware store to buy paint as an excuse to avoid reading.
  • A teenage clerk explains the class mural project and the teacher’s philosophy that everything now matters equally.
  • Hilda abandons her usual practical paint choice in favor of bold, expressive colors.

Character Development

  • Hilda: Grapples with jealousy and guilt. She envies Marlen’s peaceful acceptance of death, achieved through his creative work. Her discomfort with the book forces her to examine her own lack of resolution. The paint-buying scene shows her beginning to let go of practical, future-oriented thinking and embrace what feels meaningful now.
  • Marlen (off-page): His completed book and calm demeanor contrast with Hilda’s struggle, reinforcing his role as someone who has already processed the end.
  • Irene: Appears briefly but the unspoken letter and her tense call with Hilda highlight her grief over Ole’s disappearance and possible guilt.
  • Teenage clerk: Represents a younger generation that has quickly adapted to the new reality; her cheerful pragmatism offers a fresh perspective.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

  • The unfinished book: Symbolizes Hilda’s resistance to confronting her own feelings about death and her perceived failure to “keep up” with Marlen.
  • The mural vs. the Mona Lisa: The art teacher’s idea that everything matters equally subverts the old hierarchy of value. This becomes a motif for rethinking meaning in the face of annihilation.
  • Paint colors: The shift from safe cream to bold green, blue, purple represents a rejection of future-proof thinking. Green suggests life and growth, blue echoes Marlen’s eyes (connecting to family and love), purple is outrageous—a deliberate break from convention.
  • Longevity as an illusion: The chapter explicitly states that concepts like affordable, durable, and timeless have lost their power, mirroring the theme that the end of time reframes all priorities.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter crystallizes the novel’s central philosophical question: Does nothing matter, or does everything matter equally? Hilda’s personal journey—her envy of Marlen, her struggle with the book, her choice of paint—demonstrates the emotional and practical recalibration that characters must undergo. It also deepens the subplot of Ole’s disappearance and the silent “letter” that continues to haunt Hilda and Irene.

Study Questions and Answers

  1. Why can’t Hilda finish Marlen’s book, despite thinking it is well written?
    Hilda tells Marlen the subject is too close to reality, but the real reason is jealousy. Marlen achieved his dream and accept his death, while Hilda has not found that same peace and feels left behind.

  2. How does the art teacher’s perspective on the mural challenge Hilda’s earlier pessimism?
    Hilda had believed that “nothing matters” in the apocalypse. The teacher argues that because longevity is gone, everything matters the same amount. This reframing offers Hilda a more hopeful possibility.

  3. What does Hilda’s final choice of paint colors symbolize?
    By rejecting the practical cream swatch for bold greens, blues, and purples, Hilda abandons future-oriented thinking (affordable, durable, timeless) and embraces what is vivid and meaningful right now—a small but significant act of living in the present.

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