Chapter 32: Suspension of Disbelief — Summary 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 the narrator driving out of Chicago on back roads, high on cannabis, as Cammie tells him her life story. He visualizes her memories as if watching a movie, filling in details with his imagination.
Cammie's story begins when she is sixteen. She overhears her adoptive parents, Marsha and Bradley, discussing baby names and learns that Marsha—forty-nine years old—is pregnant after taking a newly available fertility drug. Marsha insists the pregnancy will deepen their relationship, but Cammie feels relief that attention will shift away from her. She has always felt like a ghost of a better, expected daughter hovers around the house.
Cammie had been expelled from her private school following a series of incidents: a garbage-can fire, accusations of performing rituals with stolen personal items, suicidal gestures, and failure to comply with a treatment plan. She now attends an online school for gifted but troubled students and rarely leaves her room. Though she once loved her solitude, she now longs for connection.
Her main social life happens online. She meets Ronnie in a subreddit for fans of Japanese ero guro, where he messages her about her avatar. He catfishes her for a week before revealing he believes they are biological siblings. Ronnie sends documentation that convinces her they share a sperm donor from an Evanston fertility clinic. He has been uncovering dozens of biological siblings worldwide—by the time he tells her about Guillerma Orozco-Sandoval in Mexico City, he has found nineteen; later he finds Tiril Thommesen, a four-year-old Norwegian girl, as number thirty-six. Ronnie believes they are all DNA repositories for a cult or corporate entity, and he has strong negative feelings about the donor, whom he mockingly calls the Spome Derner.
Cammie develops a crush on the idea of the donor—not the man himself, but her imagined version of him. She tells the narrator he was a limerent object and that she built a relationship with a sock puppet version of him over the years. The narrator is stung by this description.
The chapter also shows a tense scene by the pool where Marsha brings gelato and tries to connect with Cammie. Cammie almost confesses everything but instead lies about talking to a boy from a creative writing club. She catches a glimpse of what she interprets as loathing in Marsha's eyes and recalls a childhood memory of her mother asking if she hated her.
Ronnie's paranoia escalates. He claims they have tracking devices implanted in their bodies, possibly in wrist or ankle bones. Cammie begins noticing the security cameras throughout her childhood home—an eye in every room, cameras along the perimeter, a voice-activated AI assistant. She feels a humming in her foot, a sense of being watched.
Marsha's baby is born but dies at eighteen months from neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis, a neurodegenerative disease. Cammie believes the baby's death was Marsha's punishment for trying to have a child against advice.
In the present, Cammie's parents still contact her, leaving messages offering deals through NSA contacts. Cammie thinks they are in trouble for losing her. The narrator realizes he is in over his head.
Key Events
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Cammie learns Marsha is pregnant at forty-nine after taking a fertility drug
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Cammie's backstory of expulsion from private school and online schooling is revealed
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Cammie meets Ronnie online; he catfishes her before claiming to be her biological brother
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Ronnie reveals dozens of biological siblings from the same sperm donor
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Cammie develops feelings for the imagined version of the donor
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Marsha's baby is born and dies at eighteen months from a neurodegenerative disease
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Ronnie claims they have tracking devices implanted
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Cammie notices the pervasive security cameras in her childhood home
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Cammie's parents continue to contact her with offers of deals through NSA contacts
Character Development
Cammie: This chapter establishes Cammie's isolation and longing for connection. She moves from loving her solitude to desperately seeking a like-minded person. Her relationship with Ronnie—disgusting yet compelling—shows her willingness to accept the strange and paranoid when it offers belonging. Her crush on the imagined donor reveals her deep need to be understood by someone who shares her biology.
The narrator: He is revealed as the Spome Derner—the sperm donor himself. He is stung by Cammie's description of him as a sock puppet and feels embarrassed. He realizes the situation is above his pay grade.
Marsha: She is portrayed as desperate to connect with Cammie but fundamentally unable to. Her attempts—the gelato, the hand-holding—fall flat. Cammie interprets her expressions as loathing.
Ronnie: Though absent from the present, Ronnie's influence looms large. He is paranoid, manic, and possibly mentally ill, but his claims have shaped Cammie's worldview.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
Suspension of disbelief: The chapter's title reflects Cammie's struggle to accept the reality of her situation—tracking devices, dozens of siblings, a cult-like conspiracy. She notes that accepting reality requires a suspension of disbelief.
Surveillance: The security cameras throughout Cammie's home—an eye in every room, archived footage of empty rooms—create a sense of being watched. The cameras never record intruders, only the mundane lives of the family.
DNA repository: Ronnie's theory that they are repositories for genetic material connects to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a real-world seed bank. The metaphor suggests humans as storage containers.
Limerent object / sock puppet: Cammie's crush on the idea of the donor, not the man himself, shows her longing for connection projected onto an imagined figure.
Power of being underestimated: Cammie recognizes that her doe-eyed expression has uses—people underestimate her.
Punishment and guilt: Cammie believes the baby's death was Marsha's punishment for defying advice.
Why This Chapter Matters
This chapter is crucial for understanding Cammie's character and her motivation for seeking out the narrator. It establishes the conspiracy at the heart of the novel—dozens of biological siblings from a single sperm donor, possibly for nefarious purposes. It also reveals the narrator's role as the donor and complicates their relationship: Cammie has built an idealized version of him that he cannot live up to. The chapter deepens the mystery of the fertility clinic and the cult or corporate entity behind it.
Study Questions and Answers
1. Why does Cammie develop feelings for the idea of the sperm donor rather than the man himself?
Cammie's crush is on her imagined version of the donor—a nature boy who would understand her in ways her adoptive parents never could. She has never felt like part of her adoptive family, and the idea of a biological connection offers the promise of being truly seen. The sock puppet metaphor suggests she has created a relationship with a fictional version of him, not the real person.
2. What role does surveillance play in this chapter?
The security cameras throughout Cammie's home—an eye in every room, cameras on the perimeter, a voice-activated AI assistant—create a sense of constant observation. The cameras never record intruders, only the family's mundane lives. This surveillance connects to Ronnie's claims of tracking devices and suggests the family's paranoia may be justified.
3. How does the chapter use the concept of suspension of disbelief?
Cammie notes that accepting reality requires a suspension of disbelief—the reality of tracking devices, dozens of siblings, and a conspiracy is so extreme it is hard to swallow. The title also applies to the narrator, who is trying to process Cammie's story while high on cannabis, and to the reader, who must accept the novel's increasingly strange world.