Chapter 4 — Miri: Summary, Themes, and Analysis

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Summary

Three weeks after Leah's return from the deep-sea mission, Miri has settled into a new, uneasy routine. She works from home writing grant applications for nonprofits, a job that never bothered her until Leah's absence forced her into uncomfortable proximity with herself. Now that Leah is back, Miri can't decide whether her presence feels like relief or invasion. She fixates on small domestic irritations—half-empty glasses on windowsills, an unemptied bin, unhoovered floors—and suffers from mouth ulcers and dreams of her teeth breaking like matchsticks.

Leah, meanwhile, is not eating. She wanders the flat with wads of toilet paper wedged along her gumline to absorb blood. Miri observes this but doesn't confront it directly.

The upstairs neighbors keep their television on at all times, a constant noise that bleeds through the ceiling. Miri sometimes stands on a chair to identify the show and tunes her own TV to the same channel, which negates the irritation. She enjoys the game shows and dating programs, though she avoids nature documentaries. One evening, months after Leah first went missing, she woke to a documentary about California pitcher plants—insects lured into a slippery cavity, drowned, and dissolved. She listened for a while before aiming the remote at the ceiling.

Leah used to go upstairs to ask the neighbors to turn the TV down. She'd return saying they were apologetic and kept it on for their cat. Miri never asked Leah anything about them. After Leah went away, Miri grew grateful for the noise, standing on the kitchen table on Sunday mornings to listen to soap opera music and commercials.

Now, Leah suddenly announces she can't stand it. Miri goes upstairs and hammers on the door, but no one answers. She realizes she has never actually seen the neighbors—their existence is based only on circumstantial evidence: footsteps, muffled music, furniture scraping at night. She returns after six minutes to find Leah locked in the bathroom, running both taps. This isn't unusual; Miri often wakes at odd hours to the sound of water running. She has found Leah sitting on the edge of the bathtub, staring into the water with a fixed, almost hypnotized expression.

Outside the bathroom, Miri imagines water spilling across the lavender linoleum. Leah has brought in her electric sleep box—a parting gift from the Centre, delivered with no return address—along with a pair of decompression socks and a PVC-bound book of aphorisms. Miri hears the box turn on, producing a sound like something spilling, seething, building to a roar.

The chapter closes with Miri's reflection on how she and Leah met long ago. She thinks about the importance of a meeting, the point before knowing, and the game they used to play of remembering shared moments: flowers sent to another city, teaching her to swim, a birthday dinner where Leah spilled water. She recalls the first kiss, the first time they slept together, the first time Leah told her about seeing her father's ghost. She remembers the first time Leah went away, and the last time—when she was supposed to be gone for three weeks but disappeared for six months, with the Centre giving contradictory information before ceasing to call. Miri finds it easier to consider their relationship in pieces rather than as a whole, because stepping back makes her dizzy.

Key Events

Miri observes Leah's physical deterioration: not eating, bleeding gums, chewing on her jumper.
The upstairs neighbors' constant TV noise becomes a focal point of domestic tension.
Leah suddenly declares she can't stand the noise; Miri goes upstairs to complain but finds no one home.
Miri realizes she has never seen the neighbors, only heard them.
While Miri is gone, Leah locks herself in the bathroom with the taps running, along with her sleep box, decompression socks, and a book of aphorisms.
Miri reflects on the couple's shared history and the last time Leah went away, which stretched from three weeks to six months.

Character Development

Miri emerges as a narrator caught between relief and invasion. Her ambivalence about Leah's return is palpable—she can't decide whether to register Leah's presence as comfort or intrusion. Her fixation on small domestic annoyances suggests a need for control that Leah's absence disrupted. The fact that she never asked Leah about the neighbors reveals a deeper pattern of avoidance; she takes the world at face value, preferring not to probe beneath surfaces. Her memory of the pitcher plant documentary hints at a subconscious awareness of Leah's condition—something luring, trapping, and dissolving.

Leah is largely absent from the action, but her presence is felt through Miri's observations. She is physically deteriorating (bleeding gums, not eating), and her behavior is increasingly ritualistic: locking herself in the bathroom, running taps, staring into water. The objects she brings—the sleep box, decompression socks, aphorisms—suggest she is clinging to remnants of her deep-sea experience, perhaps as a way to stay connected to that world. Her sudden declaration that she can't stand the noise is a rare moment of verbal communication, but it leads to withdrawal rather than connection.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Domestic unease: The flat becomes a pressure cooker of small irritations and unspoken fears. Miri's complaints about glasses and bins mask her deeper anxiety about Leah's condition.
Noise as comfort and irritation: The upstairs TV is both a nuisance and a lifeline. After Leah's absence, Miri grows grateful for the noise—it fills the silence and provides a sense of presence. The act of matching channels becomes a way to synchronize with an unseen world.
Water obsession: Leah's fixation on running taps and staring into water echoes her deep-sea past. The water is both a source of comfort and a reminder of the abyss she descended into.
Fragmented memory: Miri's reflection on their relationship is deliberately piecemeal. She finds it easier to recall isolated moments than to consider the whole, suggesting a trauma that makes holistic memory painful.
The Centre's ambiguous gifts: The sleep box, delivered with no return address, is a parting gift from the Centre—a reminder of the mission that changed Leah. Its presence in the bathroom, alongside decompression socks, suggests Leah is still processing (or reliving) her time underwater.
Carnivorous plant imagery: The pitcher plant documentary—insects lured, drowned, and dissolved—serves as a metaphor for Leah's condition. She is being consumed by something, perhaps the deep-sea experience itself, or by the domestic life that can't contain her.
Unknowable neighbors: The neighbors are never seen, only heard. They function as a ghostly presence, a reminder that we often inhabit spaces alongside people we never truly know—a parallel to Miri's inability to fully know Leah after her return.
Absence and return: The chapter circles around the fact that Leah was gone for six months instead of three weeks. Miri's memory of that period is fragmented, and the return is not a resolution but a new kind of unease.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter deepens the novel's central mystery: what happened to Leah during her mission, and what has she brought back with her? Miri's perspective grounds the story in domestic reality, making Leah's strangeness more unsettling by contrast. The chapter establishes key motifs—water, noise, memory, and the Centre's ambiguous gifts—that will likely recur. It also introduces the idea that Leah's physical and psychological deterioration is not just a personal issue but a shared one, as Miri struggles to reconcile the woman she knew with the one who now sits staring into bathtubs. The chapter's final reflection on memory and relationship mythology sets up a tension between the past and the present, suggesting that the couple's shared history may not be enough to bridge the gap that Leah's absence has created.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Miri find it easier to remember their relationship in pieces rather than as a whole?

Miri says that stepping back to consider the whole makes her dizzy—her memory feels