Chapter 6: 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

Chapter 6, narrated by Miri, opens with a frustrating phone call. Miri is trying to resolve a company matter, but the representative refuses to speak with anyone but Leah, the "authorized personnel." Miri offers to impersonate her wife, but the representative declines. Throughout the call, the sound of running water fills the flat—a constant, intrusive presence. Leah sits nearby, pouring cherry Coke into a glass but not drinking it. Her skin has taken on a silvery, oystered appearance, which she insists will pass, along with other symptoms like bleeding and sleepwalking to the bathroom to fill the bath and hold her head under the water. Miri recalls that when she first noticed the skin change, she was so alarmed she called the NHS helpline and waited thirty minutes, only to be asked if she'd heard of impetigo.

Miri meets her friend Carmen at a supermarket and then a café. Carmen, who has recently developed deteriorating eyesight, misreads Miri's unease as discomfort with sharing her living space again after Leah's long absence. Miri tries to correct her, explaining that she never minded sharing space—that was the point of living together—but Carmen doesn't fully grasp the situation. Walking home, Miri stops at a petrol station to buy a replacement cherry Coke for the one Leah wasted. She reflects on Leah's former commute to the coastal research facility, an hour each way through marshlands, and on the strange proximity of an ocean she almost never sees.

A flashback recalls a wedding where Leah comforted a bridesmaid who had a catastrophic period accident, listening to her sob for twenty minutes while Miri handed over a pound for the tampon machine. Later, Miri reads Leah a newspaper article about a Korean woman who had squid paralarvae embedded in her cheek after eating improperly prepared seafood. They discuss what they would do if they found something like that in their mouths. Miri says she'd spit it out, but the conversation feels strained. Miri reflects on their early courtship, which revolved around watching movies together—Cronenberg, Bava, Jaws—and on how she now watches old films alone, unable to follow anything new.

Key Events

Miri's phone call to the company fails because the representative insists on speaking only with Leah.
Leah's physical symptoms are described: silvery skin, bleeding, sleepwalking to fill the bath.
Miri recalls calling the NHS helpline in alarm over Leah's skin change.
Miri meets Carmen at the supermarket and café; Carmen misinterprets Miri's unease.
Miri buys a replacement cherry Coke and reflects on Leah's old commute to the coastal research facility.
A flashback shows Leah comforting a bridesmaid at a wedding after a period accident.
Miri reads Leah a newspaper article about squid paralarvae found in a woman's cheek; they discuss it.
Miri reflects on their movie-watching courtship and now watches old films alone.

Character Development

Miri emerges as a narrator caught between love and helplessness. She tries to manage practical matters—the phone call, the shopping—but her real struggle is emotional. She avoids the silence at home by lingering in supermarkets or walking to fixed points, yet she also longs for connection, as shown by her attempts to engage Leah with the newspaper article. Her nostalgia for their early movie-watching days reveals how much the relationship has changed. She is aware of Leah's transformation but feels unable to address it directly, resorting to internal monologue and imagined conversations.

Leah is largely silent and withdrawn. Her physical changes—the silvery skin, the bleeding, the sleepwalking—suggest a profound bodily transformation that she dismisses as temporary. She speaks little, and when she does, it's often to reassure Miri that things are fine. Her reaction to the squid paralarvae article—asking whether the woman felt better with the creatures removed—hints at her own ambivalence about what is inside her. She seems to be retreating into herself, unable or unwilling to share what she experienced.

Carmen serves as a foil. Her misreading of Miri's unease—attributing it to the difficulty of sharing space—highlights how even close friends fail to understand the true nature of Miri and Leah's estrangement. Carmen's own history with Tom, and her tendency to speak of him like a degree, underscores the theme of failed communication and the difficulty of articulating complex emotional states.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Communication breakdown: The phone call, the silence between Miri and Leah, and Carmen's misunderstanding all illustrate the failure of language to bridge the gap between people.
Physical transformation: Leah's silvery skin, bleeding, and sleepwalking represent a bodily change that mirrors her emotional and psychological distance.
Running water motif: The constant sound of running water in the flat—from taps, baths, and sinks—suggests both cleansing and drowning, and becomes a symbol of Leah's condition and the couple's inability to stop it.
Widow's walk: The flashback to the wedding includes a widow's walk, a coastal feature where wives watched for their husbands' ships. This motif of waiting for a partner's return resonates with Miri's situation: Leah has returned physically, but Miri still feels like she's waiting for the real Leah to come back.
Parasitic intrusion: The squid paralarvae embedded in the woman's cheek serve as a metaphor for Leah's own condition—something foreign and alive inside her that she cannot remove. Miri's wish to "spit it out" reflects her desire to extract whatever has changed Leah.
Shared film culture as intimacy: The early movie-watching dates represent a time of closeness and easy conversation, contrasting with the present silence. Miri's inability to watch new films alone underscores her emotional stagnation.
Ocean's proximity and absence: The city is veined with canals and rivers, yet Miri almost never sees the sea. This paradox mirrors Leah's connection to the ocean and Miri's exclusion from that world.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 6 deepens the novel's central tension: the impossibility of truly knowing another person, especially after trauma. Miri's narration reveals her desperate attempts to maintain normalcy—phone calls, shopping, reading the news—while Leah's transformation becomes increasingly alien. The squid paralarvae article functions as a powerful symbol of Leah's condition, suggesting that something foreign and parasitic has taken root inside her. The chapter also provides crucial backstory on Miri and Leah's relationship, showing how their shared love of movies once bridged differences. Now, that bridge is gone, and Miri watches alone. The chapter emphasizes the theme of waiting—for a partner to return, for a change to pass, for a connection to be restored—and leaves the reader with a sense of profound unease about what lies ahead.

Study Questions and Answers

1. How does the running water motif reflect Miri and Leah's relationship?

The running water is constant and inescapable, like the silence between the couple. Leah fills the bath and holds her head under water, suggesting a desire to submerge or escape. Miri must shout to be heard over the sound, but her attempts to communicate are futile. The water also evokes the ocean, connecting Leah's transformation to her time at sea and emphasizing the distance between them.

2. What does the squid paralarvae article symbolize for Miri?

For Miri, the article represents the idea of foreign bodies inside a person—something that shouldn't be there but is. She imagines prying open Leah's mouth and finding something pressed against her teeth. The article becomes a way for Miri to voice her fear that Leah has been changed by something she can't see or remove. Miri's response—"I'd spit it out"—reveals her wish to extract whatever is harming Leah, but she is unable to do so in reality.

3. How does Carmen's misunderstanding of Miri's unease highlight the theme of communication breakdown?

Carmen assumes Miri's discomfort is about sharing space after a long absence, but Miri's real issue is the emotional distance between her and Leah. Carmen's inability to read Miri's open mouth and her insistence on projecting her own experience with Tom show how even well-meaning friends can fail to understand. This miscommunication underscores the novel's broader theme: that people often talk past each other, unable to convey the true nature of their pain.