Summary

Immediately following the title page, before Chapter 1 commences, is a page with a small black and white photograph of a stately building with well-kept landscaping. A caption above the photo reads “Stella Maris,” and underneath that, “Black River Falls, Wisconsin. Established 1902,” as if the image were a postcard. A smaller caption below the photo explains that the building is a “non-denominational facility and hospice for the care of psychiatric mental patients.” Under the photo and caption is a brief summary of a patient written in Courier font, as if on a typewriter, dated October 27, 1972. This brief summary describes the novel’s protagonist, Alicia Western, and how she came to the facility: “Patient is a twenty-year-old Jewish/Caucasian female…is a doctoral student in Mathematics at the University of Chicago and has been diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic.” The paragraph also informs the reader that...