Summary

“He Lost a Few Years,” the sixth chapter of The Devil and Webster and the beginning of Part II: Dissemble, begins with Naomi going out to the student encampment, where she meets Omar Khayal and Chava Friedberg, the students who had come to the dean of students to express the concerns of the protesters. The students clearly defer to Omar, but no one will tell Naomi about Omar or articulate the activists’ demands. This frustrates Naomi, who tells them that she will clear her schedule the next day so that the group may come and discuss their grievances. The chapter ends with Naomi’s anger at these students; they are privileged with being students at Webster, yet refuse to communicate and work through their issues with the administration.

In “Pseud’s Corner Office,” Naomi does...