Chapter 28 (Miri): Summary, Analysis, and Key Themes

⚠️ 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 at midnight with a phone call that Miri deliberately ignores. She is in the bathroom with Leah, who is soaking in the bath. The sound machine plays its usual noises, and for the first time Miri does not register it as an imposition but as a constant element of their shared space. The phone rings again at one in the morning, and the scene remains unchanged: Miri has been reading to Leah from a book Leah once gave her, while trying to ignore the way Leah moves her hands through the water and the unsettling thought of how a broken body drifts and slips.

Leah, speaking in a dreamy, lecture-like voice, tells Miri that humans carry the ocean in their bodies—that blood is essentially made of sodium, potassium, and calcium, much like seawater, and that the first living things came from the sea, leaving a trace of salt in the bones. Miri then asks Leah to come to bed, noting that she has been soaking all day. Leah says she would like a little longer, and that the cold water is fine. Miri reflects on how similar this is to their past dynamic: Leah often being content while Miri felt tense and clenched. Leah used to tell Miri that heartburn comes from letting your whole body squeeze too tight, and she would mime releasing a grip around Miri's lungs.

Miri presses the matter, saying she really wants Leah to come to bed. When Leah does not respond, Miri takes her hand and pulls hard enough that Leah half stands. Leah says she does not want to leave, and Miri calls the situation silly. As Miri tries to heave Leah out of the bath, Leah begins leaking water from her eyes, ears, and mouth. Her legs fail to support her, and Miri catches her beneath the arms to stop her from falling, desperate to prevent the moment from being her fault.

Miri then recalls a genetic test she could have taken to learn whether she would develop the same condition as her mother. She had booked the appointment, walked through town in a thin rain, arrived fifteen minutes early, and then simply turned around and walked home. She only realized hours later, while watching television, what she had done. She reflects that it is easier to believe life is inexhaustible—that every dull, daily action will be repeated countless times. Stamping a limit on even mundane things, like buying coffee or defrosting the fridge, would force an acknowledgment of mortality that feels like torture. She sees no use in demanding to know the mathematics of one's remaining days.

The phone rings again at six in the morning. Miri has left Leah in the bath, as Leah requested once her mouth had drained enough for her to speak. Miri answers, and the caller identifies herself as the sister of Jelka, who was on the craft with Leah when it went down. The sister says she would love to speak and that there are things they ought to discuss.

Key Events

The phone rings at midnight and again at one; Miri ignores both calls while sitting with Leah in the bathroom.
Leah delivers a monologue about the ocean in human bodies, comparing blood to seawater and mentioning salt in the bones.
Miri tries to persuade Leah to leave the bath, but Leah refuses; Miri pulls her hand, causing Leah to half stand.
Leah begins leaking water from her eyes, ears, and mouth, and her legs give way; Miri catches her.
Miri recalls booking a genetic test for her mother's condition but turning around before the appointment, choosing not to know.
The phone rings at 6 A.M.; Miri answers and learns the caller is Jelka's sister, who wants to discuss something.

Character Development

Miri emerges as a caregiver stretched to her limit. Her refusal to answer the phone suggests a desire to shut out the outside world and focus entirely on Leah, yet her frustration surfaces when she physically tries to pull Leah from the bath. Her memory of avoiding the genetic test reveals a deep-seated fear of finite time and a preference for willful ignorance over painful certainty. This avoidance mirrors her handling of Leah's condition: she wants to believe that things will continue as they are, that life is inexhaustible, and that she will not have to confront an ending.

Leah is shown in a state of physical and mental deterioration. Her lecture about the ocean in bodies is both poetic and unsettling, hinting at a mind still capable of wonder but disconnected from the present. Her refusal to leave the bath and her subsequent water leakage suggest a body that is no longer fully under her control, and her request to be left in the bath indicates a resignation to her state.

The brief appearance of Jelka's sister introduces a new external pressure. Her call at dawn breaks the quiet domestic bubble and signals that the aftermath of the craft incident is not over—there are unresolved matters that will demand Miri's attention.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

The ocean in bodies: Leah's speech about blood containing sodium, potassium, and calcium—similar to seawater—reinforces the novel's central motif of the sea as both origin and threat. The idea that humans carry a trace of the ocean inside them blurs the boundary between the domestic and the deep.
Water leakage: Leah's leaking from eyes, ears, and mouth is a visceral symbol of her dissolution. It suggests that the sea is literally seeping out of her, that her body is no longer containing what it should, and that her connection to the water has become pathological.
The bath as refuge: Leah's insistence on staying in the bath positions the water as a place of safety, even as it becomes a site of crisis. For Miri, the bath is a space of helplessness and strain.
Phone calls as intrusion: The repeated ringing of the phone represents the outside world breaking into Miri's isolated caregiving routine. Each call is a demand she tries to ignore, until the final call from Jelka's sister forces her to engage.
Avoidance and mortality: Miri's decision to skip the genetic test embodies her broader fear of knowing the limits of life. She prefers to imagine that every mundane action will be repeated indefinitely, rather than confront the finite number of days she or Leah may have.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 28 deepens the reader's understanding of Miri's internal world and the strain of caring for Leah. It shows the physical consequences of Leah's condition in a visceral, almost grotesque way, while also revealing Miri's psychological coping mechanisms—her avoidance, her anger, and her desperate need to believe in an inexhaustible future. The chapter also introduces a new plot thread: the call from Jelka's sister, which promises to bring the wider consequences of the craft incident back into focus. This chapter is pivotal because it moves the narrative from the private, claustrophobic space of the bathroom to the possibility of external confrontation, setting up the next phase of the story.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Miri avoid taking the genetic test for her mother's condition?

Miri avoids the test because she prefers to believe that life is inexhaustible. Knowing the result would impose a limit on her future, turning every mundane action into a counted occurrence. She finds this kind of certainty torturous and would rather live in a state of willful ignorance, imagining that her time—and by extension Leah's—is limitless.

2. What does Leah's speech about the ocean in human bodies reveal about her state of mind?

Leah's speech shows that she still possesses a poetic, intellectual curiosity, but it is delivered in a detached, lecture-like tone that suggests she has momentarily forgotten Miri is present. The content—that blood is similar to seawater and that salt remains in the bones—connects her to the sea in a fundamental way, hinting that her physical deterioration is tied to an oceanic identity she cannot escape.

3. How does the phone function as a symbol in this chapter?

The phone represents the intrusion of the outside world into Miri's isolated caregiving routine. Miri ignores the first two calls, signaling her desire to remain enclosed with Leah. The final call from Jelka's sister breaks that enclosure, forcing Miri to confront the broader aftermath of the craft incident and the unresolved issues that lie beyond the bathroom walls.