Chapters 8–9 Summary and Analysis
Chapter 8
In 2015, Alkaitis ponders the narrowing gap between his counterlife fantasies and his memories. He often finds the two overlapping, even as he tries to keep them separate. He also worries about his lapses in concentration, and he frequently finds himself repeating things or allowing his counterlife fantasies to bleed into his reality.
Alkaitis makes an appointment with the prison doctor, who conducts a test to assess his memory. The test involves a series of questions, some of which Alkaitis answers correctly, others of which he answers with details from his fantasies. He is especially fixated on memories of various hotels he has stayed at over the course of his life, and he fondly recalls a “palm-tree shaped island” he once visited with his first wife, Suzanne.
After returning to his cell, Alkaitis becomes increasingly uneasy and sinks further into the counterlife. His dreams are filled with a nameless sense of dread. One evening, this dread manifests itself in the form of a ghost. It is Faisal, Alkaitis’s former friend and investor, who was ruined in the aftermath of the Ponzi scheme. Alkaitis casually asks his cellmate if he has ever met anyone who has seen a ghost, to which his cellmate responds that he thinks ghosts are just manifestations of a guilty conscience.
Chapter 9
Vincent recounts the months leading up to Alkaitis’s arrest in 2008. During a yacht trip with Olivia and Alkaitis, Vincent becomes inspired to attend a concert at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. While looking for tickets, she discovers something surprising—her half-brother Paul, whom she has not seen since they worked together at the Hotel Caiette, has achieved some success as a composer. However, she is dismayed to learn that his success has come as a result of theft. Paul stole Vincent’s childhood video recordings and has used them as backgrounds for his music.
Although she is distressed by the discovery, Vincent still decides to attend one of Paul’s shows. However, she departs early, feeling disgusted and betrayed. She finds it increasingly difficult to be positive around Alkaitis, but this does not matter as much since he is almost constantly working. Vincent’s distress begins impacting her sleep as she suffers nightmares.
One morning, unable to sleep properly, Vincent gets up for a run and heads into the city. She visits an art gallery where she encounters one of Alkaitis’s employees, Oskar Novak. The two exchange pleasantries, and Vincent laments that her arrangement with Alkaitis—while generally pleasant and highly beneficial—prevents her from pursuing relationships with people of her choosing.
After purchasing a new outfit for Alkaitis’s office Christmas party that evening, Vincent intends to take the subway. However, she is suddenly overcome by an overwhelming sense of dread and is struck by the unshakeable thought that if she goes into the subway tunnel, she will die. She ends up taking a taxi instead. When she arrives to meet Alkaitis in his office before the party, she is surprised to find his daughter, Claire, and one of his employees, Harvey Alexander, present as well. They all look nervous and distraught. After a period of awkward silence, Akaitis finally asks Vincent if she knows what a Ponzi scheme is.
Analysis
As Alkaitis slips deeper into the counterlife, his ability to distinguish between fantasy, memory, and reality deteriorates. Prison life has left him bored and understimulated, and the lack of freedom makes his fantasy world far more appealing. However, the appearance of Faisal’s ghost indicates that Alkaitis will not be able to entirely escape into his delusions. Whereas the counterlife is a conscious effort of imagination into...
(This entire section contains 888 words.)
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which Alkaitis willingly escapes, Faisal’s ghost alarms and disconcerts him. He is left unsure of whether what he is seeing is real or not, going so far as to ask his roommate’s perspective. Hazelton’s reply encapsulates a central premise of the novel, which is the notion that ghosts are the product of guilt. Faisal died after the Ponzi scheme was exposed, and Alkaitis is implied to be at least somewhat responsible for the death. It makes sense, then, that Faisal’s ghost—whether it is truly a supernatural phenomenon or merely a manifestation of regret—would haunt him.
Vincent’s narration explores ghosts of a different kind, as Paul once again enters her life. The half-siblings have always shared a fraught relationship, but Paul finally crosses the line when he steals Vincent’s old video recordings in order to propel his music career. The images projected on screen during the show appear ghostlike and dreamy to Vincent, who leaves halfway through the show, deeply unsettled. Paul’s betrayal haunts her, and it will later be revealed that Paul is similarly haunted by his theft.
There is a sort of symbolism to the fact that Paul’s success comes from an admittedly nonconsensual collaboration with Vincent. Separately, they created incomplete art; but combined, their art becomes what an audience member describes as “brilliant.” Perhaps in a counterlife of their own, one where Paul was not overwhelmed by resentment and entitlement, they might have been able to truly understand and support each other through their respective traumas. Instead, they each contend with their demons alone, never able to properly communicate with each other.
