Chapters 3 and 4 Summary

Chapter three depicts Stofsky's party in his apartment in a grim section of uptown Manhattan. The rooms are full of strangers because Stofsky invites anyone he meets to such parties, even though it often seems as if he's the only one having a good time. The strikingly handsome but hard-drinking Bill Agatson is there, and he insults a friend, the tubercular Daniel Verger, by pretending to think he is someone else. Paul and Kathryn meet Christine, an attractive, salt-of-the-earth young mother and wife who is having trouble in her marriage to a blue collar man. Pasternak takes an intense, frowning interest in her, and she is attracted to him.

Christine's friend Bianca worries that Christine might get hurt by Pasternak, and she takes Christine away from the party, but not before Kathryn gets Christine's phone number. Pasternak is approached by a...