Anita de Monte Laughs Last

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains descriptions of racism, misogyny, and anti-gay bias.

Death has grown tedious. Because no one thinks about Anita or her work very frequently, her spirit’s power diminishes. Once, a red-headed woman in New York looks through a series of Anita’s works that she has in a drawer in her apartment, and Anita travels ecstatically to see the woman. She recognizes her as one of Tilly’s friends and realizes that she only purchased Anita’s work to keep it hidden from public view.

Providence, Summer 1998

Raquel leaves Nick’s apartment, ashamed of her shorn hair. She is sure that this will be the last time she closes his front door, and she vows never to speak to him again. She reflects on their relationship, on his subtle disrespect for her, and on the differences between their families. Although his family is the more affluent, his parents are openly disapproving of their daughter Astrid. Also, although they have been kind to Raquel, she realizes that she finds them cold and uncaring. Her mother, by contrast, is warm, supportive, and loving. She might lack money and social status, but she is a much better human being than Nick’s mother.