Chapter 5 Summary, Analysis, and Key Takeaways

⚠️ 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

Clio and Tommy drive from New Jersey to Connecticut for Clio's mother's funeral service. Tommy picks the music—nu metal—and Clio texts Daphne about it. They arrive forty-five minutes early and stop at a café for coffee and muffins. Tommy asks how Clio is feeling; she insists she won't cry, explaining she only cries when she wants something, not when she's sad. Tommy gently encourages her to show emotion. The conversation turns to Leda, who Tommy notes doesn't cry either; Clio recalls Leda cried only in private as a child. Tommy says he's glad they're doing this, wishing Leda and Daphne could be there.

In the bathroom, Clio examines her reflection. She's dressed in black—a thrifted Prada minidress, loafers, stockings, a cashmere cardigan with mismatched gold buttons, a velvet headband, gold hoops, dice studs, and a white gold snake charm necklace she's become attached to. Her reflection shows nothing—no nerves, no sadness. She reflects that of her sisters, she looks most like her mother: olive complexion, dark eyes, high cheekbones, arched brows, long curly black hair. She believes her mother loved her most because she bore no resemblance to their father, the man who hurt her.

They arrive at a gray-and-white Victorian that looks like a giant dollhouse. Clio recalls her mother's belief that any house can be haunted, not just old pretty ones. Tommy struggles to parallel park for fifteen minutes. A porch sign reads