Summary

Pages 243 - 258—“The End” is a traditional, multi-paragraph style essay chronicling the details of the author’s completion of the memoir and search for a New York City apartment (and accompanying quest to ensure that a bedbug infestation will not be experienced). They left New Jersey for a year in Paris and decided to return instead to New York, calling New York City “an adventure” to replace the “existence” that had been New Jersey (246). While James usually found joy in writing the words “The End,” she admits that writing this memoir has been, like the year in Paris, decidedly different from any other. She recognizes that typing “The End” signals a finality that she does not want to face, and she expresses bittersweet feelings about completing the book.

As she and...