Chapters 12 and 13 Summary and Analysis

One evening in Paris, David and Hugh went to see the film adaption of Graham Greene's "The End of the Affair." David was tired and slept through most of it. Hugh cried through it, from beginning to end. The trouble with taking a lover to a love story was the inevitable comparisons between real life and fantasy, with the latter always paling in comparison. At that time, David and Hugh had been together over ten years. Life had become mundane and unexciting. Even though they both found it difficult to express their love for each other, David could never think of being with anyone else.

David had plans to visit Lisa in Winston-Salem. The last time he had visited her was when she lived in an apartment complex in the late seventies. Lisa dropped out of college after two...