Summary

Part 7 consists of a series of directions Jacob has written for actors, directors, and other participants in the making of his TV show. The entries are journal-like, first-person narratives that include references to past events in the novel and to Jacob’s thoughts and experiences.

There are several that seem particularly significant, each with a heading starting with “How To Play (Love – Anger – Fear of Death) and several more. The first is an examination of what Jacob believes to be his baldness, in which he imagines a conversation with Benjy taking place after the boys have started spending time at his (Jacob’s) new home, and a visit from Benjy decades afterwards. There is a memoir of how Jacob raised his voice only twice in his life, both times to Julia, and one of the adoption, and renaming, of a...