Summary

The next collection of Chris’ letters is called Add It Up, taken from a Violent Femmes song. She tells Dick that she dropped acid for the first time in years. She writes about aging and growing up in New Zealand. She contemplates how people keep things to hold onto memories. She tells Dick about her friends that were schizophrenics and how she is drawn to them. She gives Dick an example of Ruffo, a 40-something man waiting for a lobotomy. Chris remembers seeing Ruffo after the lobotomy while he was still in New Zealand; she describes him a “schizophrenic realist” (224) and how others with the illness are able to negotiate multiple realities. Chris explains that she wants to be an intellectual like Dick.

Chris writes about New Zealand authors. She tells Dick about finding a short story she wrote when she was still...