Summary

In Chapter 32, the same year of the Barbie shoe, Eleanor decided to make a bûche de Noël, a Christmas cake shaped like a log and decorated with moss and mushrooms made of icing. The cake was unnecessary, but Eleanor was trying to make things perfect.

Eleanor became so angry when Cam dressed to go outside, leaving her alone to finish dinner for his parents that she smashed the cake into the trash can. Ursula suggested her mother should calm herself by counting to ten.

In Chapter 33, when Patty, Eleanor’s roommate from boarding school, asked to visit, Eleanor went out of her way again, preparing a meal from a Julia Child cookbook.

During dinner, Patty bragged that Matt had been elected to Congress. She said he was Republican and claimed to defend family values. She explained her brother did not really...