Chapter summaries Ugly Love - L'intégrale Colleen Hoover

Chapter 37 (36): Summary and Analysis of Ugly Love – Miles Faces His Past

⚠️ 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

Tate comes to Miles’s apartment to say goodbye, but he knows she hopes for more. He forces himself to show no emotion, telling her goodbye coldly. She kisses his cheek and leaves, crying. As she enters the elevator, Corbin steps out and later punches Miles without warning. Ian, who witnessed the scene, tells Miles he is a fool and insists he should go after her. Miles retreats to his room, but Ian follows him and poses a difficult question: if it were possible to erase the memory of the terrible night six years ago – the night his son and Rachel died – but at the cost of losing every good memory with them, would he accept? Miles cannot answer yes or no. Ian argues that his relationship with Tate has already begun to soften his grief, and suggests a whole life with her could heal him further. After Ian leaves, Miles goes down to the lobby and sits beside Cap’taine, the elderly doorman who has known him for decades. Cap’taine openly criticises Miles for letting Tate go, then shares a rare personal opinion: Miles must go see Rachel to confirm whether she is alive and well, because only then will he allow himself to believe he deserves happiness. Cap’taine breaks down in tears, and Miles weeps too, terrified of what he might find.

Key Events

  • Tate arrives to say goodbye; Miles suppresses his feelings and lets her leave.
  • Corbin punches Miles in the face after seeing Tate crying.
  • Ian confronts Miles and asks him a hypothetical question about erasing his painful memories.
  • Miles cannot commit to an answer, revealing subconscious progress.
  • Ian leaves, stating that a future with Tate could help heal him.
  • In the lobby, Cap’taine scolds Miles and advises him to face his past by checking on Rachel.
  • Both Miles and Cap’taine show visible emotion – a first for the old man.

Character Development

Miles continues to wear emotional armour, but cracks are appearing. He admits to himself that he wants to love Tate and that her presence stirs feelings he had buried. Ian’s question forces him to weigh his attachment to the past against the possibility of a new future. For the first time, he weeps openly in front of Cap’taine, signalling that his defensive walls are beginning to crumble.

Ian evolves from a jokey roommate into a truth-teller. He pushes Miles with a carefully crafted question that reveals Miles’s growing ambivalence about staying locked in grief. Ian’s final line – “imagine what a whole life with her could do” – plants a seed of hope that Miles cannot dismiss.

Cap’taine breaks his lifelong rule of never giving advice. In his eighties, he admits that he cannot imagine Miles’s pain, but he insists that only by confronting Rachel’s fate can Miles ever move on. His tears show that Miles’s suffering has affected even this stoic old man.

(Although Rachel does not appear, her memory drives the entire chapter. She is the ghost Miles cannot escape.)

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Grief and guilt as imprisonment. Miles speaks of “the glacier encasing his heart” and of an avalanche set off by Ian’s words. The ice imagery suggests that his grief has frozen him in place for six years; the avalanche hints at a thaw.

The memory-erasure hypothetical. Ian’s question is the chapter’s core. It pits the unbearable pain of loss against the unbearable thought of losing all the love that came before. Miles’s inability to say “yes” shows that he still values those memories, even at the cost of ongoing pain.

Confronting the past to move forward. Cap’taine’s advice frames the chapter’s central moral: running from trauma only deepens it. He argues that Miles must find out what happened to Rachel – not for her sake, but for his own.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter marks a decisive turning point. Miles is no longer depicted as a man who simply refuses to feel; he is shown as someone who wants to change but is terrified. Both Ian and Cap’taine call him out in ways he cannot ignore. The chapter sets up the climax of Miles’s emotional journey: his decision to seek out Rachel, which will either free him or confirm his worst fears.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Miles refuse to answer Ian’s hypothetical question with a clear yes or no?
Miles has spent six years wishing he could erase the worst night of his life. But his time with Tate has created new, positive attachments that make him reluctant to sacrifice all his memories of Rachel and his son. Being unable to answer “yes” shows that he is subconsciously beginning to value the possibility of future love over total amnesia.

2. What does Cap’taine’s choice to give advice reveal about his relationship with Miles?
Cap’taine has known Miles since birth and has always listened without judging. By finally offering his opinion, he shows that he cares deeply for Miles and that he believes Miles is worth saving. His tears indicate that Miles’s suffering has worn down even his practised detachment.

3. How does the imagery of ice and avalanches reflect Miles’s internal state?
Miles describes his heart as a glacier and Ian’s words as an avalanche. Ice suggests numbness, static grief, and a life frozen in trauma. The avalanche implies a sudden, uncontrollable shift – a cracking of the shell that may eventually allow Miles to feel again, even if that feeling is initially painful.

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