How It All Goes Down
Falling in Love, 1934-1941
- Here's another confusing, jumping around in time chapter.
- It begins, "The final time they made love, seven months before she killed herself and he married someone else, the Gypsy girl asked my grandfather how he arranged his books" (27.1).
- We learn about the courtship between the Gypsy and the Jew.
- He brings her things that mean nothing to her (flowers, chocolates, a Cher single) and doesn't tell any of his friends about her.
- However, he does love her, even though he can't say it.
- Even though the Gypsy girl is the only girl he loves, he tells her that his wedding to Zosha has been arranged.
- Then they make love for the last time. They'd been together for seven years at this point, and they won't speak for the next seven months.
- At one point, she even sneaks into his house to see how he arranges his books. (Like this.)
- He rushes to Lista's house, tells her that he's all alone, gives her a purple copy of Hamlet, saying she'll give it back one day, and leaves.
- Before the close of the chapter, we see, one more time, the last time Safran and the Gypsy girl make love. (Okay dude, we got it. It was awesome and sad.)
- Then, seven months later, on June 18, 1941, bombs fall from the sky and the Gypsy girl kills herself.