Summary

In Chapter 1, the mysterious sickness that will drive the plot of the novel is only referred to as “it.” The narrator goes on to describe the sickness as “a sudden drowsiness, a closing of the eyes” and describes the various theories floating around about where it began (3). Some of the townspeople say it is in the air, some say it is caused by the drought, some say it has always been there. The narrator gives historical examples of the sickness, claiming there are letters of a sleeping sickness “in a Dust Bowl cabin and… a Mexican village” (3). The narrator also cites a Greek poem in which the sickness is described “as if [the victims] drowned in a dream” (4). The chapter ends by describing patient zero leaving a college party because she feels tired and sick.

In Chapter 2, the narrator introduces Mei. Mei has...