Chapter 4 Summary

Herman Cohen is the corrections editor at the paper. Herman drives his staff crazy with his picky corrections, writing down every word that has appeared in the paper as a mistake in a collection he calls his bible. Herman never thought he would be a writer, let alone work in the newspaper industry for so long. Herman always assumed his friend, Jimmy, would be the acclaimed writer. Jimmy comes for a visit while Herman's wife is in Philadelphia visitng their daughter and grandchildren. Throughout the visit Herman speaks to Jimmy about working on his novel, a novel that Herman believes has been more than thirty years in the working.

As teenagers, Jimmy and Herman met at a Presbyterian private school, the only two Jewish boys there. Jimmy protected Herman from his classmates and they became fast friends. Later, while Herman was in college...