Summary

Just as the two of them had gotten comfortable with their relationship, Nate –unsurprisingly—starts to withdraw from Hannah, seeing “her in an unfamiliar light—vulnerable, needy” so that his “guilt flickered into annoyance” (138). Once again, we spend time in Nate’s interior monologue as his mood changes from satisfaction to irritation.

Nate feels a bit cheered up when they watch an indie film in bed, but the feeling subsides and he find himself feeling that dullness once again. This despite how strongly his book was being received. What he experiences the narrator calls “free floating ennui" (140). Before the book deal, he had gotten so used to the state of uncertainty financially and professionally, that part of him missed that sense of urgency.

When he goes for a run at the park, Nate remembers the nonprofit that maintained the park soliciting him, and how...