Summary

Chapter 8 consists of the early stages of Nate’s blooming relationship with Hannah, the time they spend together which seems “like the real awake time” (104) to Nate. It turns out that the ban she had placed on sex that first time they spent the night together, she rescinded on the night of the park concert date. Nate is pleased with how different Hannah is compared to previous women he dated, who had been overly sheltered and sensitive. In getting to know her writing style, Nate likes that Hannah's writing is lucid yet wonderfully acerbic. In particular, he actually enjoys her insinuations of doubts about him, how she has not yet made up her mind completely. He too has not necessarily changed his mind about not wanting to be in a relationship.

Nate finds sex with Hannah satisfying. It feels “urgent, feverish, as if there...