53 pages • 1 hour read
Kent HarufA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
At the end of August, Gene arrives to take Jamie home. He takes his son for a walk with the dog, and Jamie, noticing that his father never pets Bonny, asks why he doesn’t like her. In response, Gene pets and talks to the dog. Then, they pack up Jamie’s things, and Jamie says he wants to say goodbye to Louis. He walks over to Louis’s house by himself but he returns crying because Louis wasn’t home and Jamie didn’t get to say goodbye. Addie hugs her son and grandson before they leave, telling Jamie to call her often and asking Gene to be patient with the boy. After dark, she manages to reach Louis on the phone. He says he had been out of town for the afternoon and didn’t know whether he should come over on such an emotional day for Addie. She chides him for this, perplexed by how he still doesn’t understand that she doesn’t want to brood over her problems but talk them out with Louis. When he comes over, she kisses him on the porch. Addie doesn’t know if things will work out for her son and his wife and Jamie, but she feels fortunate for having Louis in her life.
Addie and Louis attempt to make love. They are each self-conscious about their own bodies, worrying that they are sagging and unattractive; however, they make each other feel more confident when they tell each other that they look good and that their bodies are exactly how they should be at their age. They touch each other intimately, which neither has experienced in a long time. Louis is not able to maintain an erection, but Addie is not bothered by this, stating that they have plenty of time to work on it.
Louis and Addie enjoy spending time together in a more romantic way. One night, he pushes her on the swing of a playground and then they lay together naked in bed. They also spend a night in Denver, staying at the Brown Palace Hotel. Addie wears one of her special dresses she’s set aside just for Denver. They have dinner and then see a musical before getting a drink and turning in for the night. Addie comments that she is as happy as she has ever been. After breakfast the next morning, they drive home. Louis carries her luggage to her room before going to his house and unpacking. Then he walks over to spend the night with her.
On Labor Day, Louis and Addie drive out to Chief Creek where they have a picnic and go skinny-dipping in the creek before napping in the shade of a tree. Later, Louis returns to his house after dropping off Addie at her house, but she calls him and tells him to come over as soon as he can because Gene is there. Louis makes a point of kissing Addie in front of Gene when he arrives. Gene tells them they need to stop seeing each other because he thinks it’s shameful. He says Jamie cries every night and he blames them for it because he learned that they would sometimes have Jamie sleep between them. Gene tells Louis to stay away from both Addie and Jamie, as well as Addie’s money. Louis leaves. Addie scolds Gene for what he said to Louis and asks why he can’t just love Jamie, and this raises the specter of how Carl treated Gene coldly after Connie died. Addie tells Gene she’s ashamed of how he’s acting. That night, Addie cries in her bed.
Addie and Louis continue to see each other, but the energy has changed between them. They stop making love, and some nights, Louis doesn’t come over at all. When Addie calls Gene’s house to talk to Jamie, she can hear the boy crying in the background, but Gene won’t let her talk to him unless she stops seeing Louis. She manages to reach Jamie one day when she thinks Gene is out, but Jamie is afraid to talk to her because his father has threatened to take away Bonny and his phone if he does. One night after this, Addie talks to Louis over drinks in the kitchen. She explains that this has to be their last night together because Jamie is all she has of her family. She no longer cares about Gene or Beverly; she just needs to have a relationship with her grandson. They go to bed, and Louis holds Addie as she cries. He thanks her for their time together and for making him a better person than he was before they started their relationship. Neither can sleep, so at four in the morning, Louis packs up his pajamas and toothbrush and heads home, where he lies in bed, waiting for daybreak.
In the fall, Louis sometimes walks past Addie’s house and sees the light on in her bedroom window. He recalls the details of her room and their time together. One night, he sees her at the window. When he gets back to his house, she calls him and tells him to stop walking by her house because she needs to cut herself off from him completely. So he stops walking by at night. When they see each other at the store, they simply greet each other and move on.
Addie slips on a curb and breaks her hip, and Gene has her moved to a hospital in Denver. Three days later, Louis learns about her accident from Dorlan Becker at the bakery. Louis calls all the hospitals in Denver until he learns where Addie is. When he goes there, Gene and Jamie are visiting her, too. Initially, Gene tells him to go away, but he then relents and gives them five minutes together. Louis and Jamie hug, but then Gene takes him away. Louis kisses Addie’s hand, but she tells him he shouldn’t do that. He wants to help her when she returns home, but she explains that Gene is moving her into an assisted living facility in Grand Junction. Louis hates how Addie seems to have given up, but she tells him that this is the only way for her to have her family. Louis offers to be her family, but she asks what would happen if he dies; she also says that if she waits, she may be too old to adjust to a new situation and she may not have the opportunity to be part of her family. She tells Louis not to come back. Louis kisses her mouth and eyes before leaving.
Time passes, and then one night, Addie calls Louis from her apartment. She tells him that she is very lonely, much worse than before, and she misses him. They have to be secretive about the phone calls so that Gene doesn’t find out. Louis jokingly asks if it’s phone sex, but she answers that it’s just two old people talking at night.
Addie calls Louis again and tells him about one of Jamie’s visits with Bonny. She says his parents are fighting again. Louis is glad that Addie is there for the boy. He tells her that he shoveled snow that day, including on her driveway. She asks why he did that, and he says that he still thinks of it as her house, even though renters live there now. Addie reminds him that the play in Denver they were talking about a while ago—which is based on characters who live in Holt—is coming up soon and that he should go see it with Holly. He doesn’t want to go without Addie, though, and she doesn’t want to go without Louis. He muses on how things between them are just like how they were when they started out, with her initiating the calls; however, now, the reason that Addie is the one who calls him is so that he doesn’t call when someone is around. Addie responds that they are also continuing their night talks, just like before. She looks at her reflection in the window and asks him if it’s a cold night there as well.
In these chapters, Addie’s and Louis’s relationship shifts as they become physically intimate; they decide “to do what the town thought all along they’d been doing but hadn’t” (152). Their love making is not fiery and passionate, like sex scenes are in romance novels featuring younger lovers; rather, they are considerate, kind, and humorous about their age and their bodies, which shows that Late-Life Love has its own challenges and charms. Their lovemaking shows that the relationship has progressed from companionship as a necessity to ward off The Pain of Loneliness to a romance, complete with dates and public displays of affection, including Addie “kiss[ing] him for the first time where people could see them” (150). It is a symbolic return to a more youthful state, as indicated by the scene where Louis pushes Addie on a swing.
However, despite enjoying every moment of this change in their relationship, Louis initially retains some of his earlier reserve, worrying that Addie would find his presence uncomfortable when she is emotionally vulnerable. For instance, because Louis knows that Addie will be distraught when Jamie leaves, Louis decides to stay away from Addie. She scolds him for this, saying, “I don’t want to be alone and brood like you do working things out by myself” (149-50). Addie is open about her need and her emotions, though Louis finds it hard to believe that she has completely let down her guard and welcomed him so completely into his heart; she holds no secrets from him and openly expresses her need for his comfort. After this, their relationship takes an emotional turn, too, as they become closer and even Louis understands the depth of their bond. He learns that he is very important to Addie, which is why he is capable of offering her comfort and support when she is going through a difficult time.
Gene forces yet another shift in their relationship when he uses Jamie as a weapon against Addie by refusing to allow her to speak to her grandson if she continues to see Louis. Gene is very concerned about Rumors and Reputations, and his disdain for their relationship is evident when he shames them, sneeringly taunting them that about how embarrassing it is that “People [their] age [meet] in the dark like [they] do” (163). He insinuates that their relationship is something shameful and secret, though Louis and Addie are neither ashamed of it nor do they hide it. Gene’s attitude conveys society’s view about older adults having a romantic relationship, portraying it as an abnormal, shameful thing. However, Gene is also motivated to force him mother to end her relationship because he fears that he will lose out on Addie’s money if she decides to make Louis a beneficiary; this makes Gene view Louis as a threat to his own future. Gene’s harsh words have their effect; though Addie and Louis still see each other for a brief while, it is not with “the same lighthearted pleasure and discovery” (165). Eventually, they stop seeing each other altogether when Addie declares, “I can’t go on this way. […] I have to have contact, and some kind of life with my grandson” (166). Despite how much she cares about Louis and how much joy he brings to her life, Addie sacrifices her time with him for the sake of her grandson. Jamie is going through a challenging time since he witnesses his parents fighting and his father doesn’t show him any affection. Addie believes she can provide the boy with stability and happiness. Their final night together recalls Louis’s final days with Tamara: a teary end to a pleasurable affair that had deeper resonances for his spirit or “soul,” to borrow from the novel’s title.
In the final chapters, Louis and Addie essentially swap characteristics. In the early chapters, Louis praises Addie for her courage, not just in initiating their relationship, but in how she handled her husband’s death and how unafraid of public opinion she is. However, the stakes of Gene’s extortion are too high, and now she tells Louis, “I can’t be brave anymore” (167). Louis is now the one who is strong for both of them. He does not care what people think of him or of them, while Addie is the one proposing secrecy, though her motivation for “sneaking” is not any concern with her reputation but her desperation to keep contact with Jamie. The irony of Addie’s situation is that in order to keep her family, she must resign herself to loneliness again. Though she gives in to Gene’s demands, both Louis and Addie know that their relationship is beautiful and unique, and it is unworthy of all the harsh reactions and gossip. On the most basic level, it is about communication and connection, or what Addie describes as “just two old people talking in the dark” (176).
Though the two resume contact toward the end, they are aware that their connection is likely to be temporary this time around. Addie risks the phone calls to Louis as a small lifeline, and she says she would like them to continue talking “For as long as [they] can. For as long as it lasts” (178-79). The danger that looms is not just that Addie’s son might discover their phone calls but that death comes ever closer. After Addie’s hip fracture, she is dependent on others’ help for her day-to-day activities, which is why she lives in an assisted living center; her failing physical health combined with her new, profound loneliness give her a sense that her days are numbered. She also voices her concern that Louis, too, might not live much longer when he offers to take care of her and be her family; Addie asks him what she would do if he dies. Since the two of them are getting older and frailer, they are acutely aware that they don’t have much life left to live. They have seen Ruth die, and her old house was sold to strangers. Addie’s old house, too, has been rented out after Gene moved her to the care facility, and Louis sees strangers who know nothing about Addie living there. He understands that this is the natural course of things and that soon, both he and Addie will be gone. He alludes to this when they discuss the theater tickets they have to see the play they once wanted to watch; however, they can no longer go together and neither wants to go without the other. Louis surmises, “Then some strangers will sit there in our seats. They won’t know anything about us” (178). He guesses that strangers will occupy their empty seats, mimicking the way in which strangers now live in Ruth’s and Addie’s houses. In this way, he acknowledges that they will both be gone soon, leaving empty spaces behind, and life will go on without them.
By Kent Haruf