Chapter 18: Neutered and Exempted — Summary, Themes, 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

The chapter opens with Beth waking on a bus, her wrists zip-tied, lying in a pool of her own vomit. Before opening her eyes, she reflects on her stepfather Steve, who molested her when she was eleven and was fond of Holocaust jokes—a memory she pushes aside in favor of the more immediate crisis. Dani, sporting a black eye, tells Beth they've been traded or sold to work for the TERFs (trans-exclusionary radical feminists). The bus's driver is a middle-aged woman with a Down East accent arguing with someone outside.

That someone is Corinne, Sylvia's sister, who boards the bus and stares directly at Beth. Corinne demands a gun from the driver, making clear her intent to kill Beth for Sylvia's death.

The narrative cuts to Ramona, who is late for a meeting with Teach. She fights through a crowd gathered in the square outside City Hall, where Molly and her people are conducting public executions. Three women from Feather's building kneel handcuffed in the rain; one is already dead. Molly reads charges—