Summary

Chapter 13 consists of three parts. In the first part, Nate carries on a phone conversation with both of his parents. Though critical of the idea that Nate had an agent, which he does not think is necessary, Nate's father is nonetheless the easier of the two to get along with. On the other hand, Nate's mother, a Romanian immigrant, carries an 'us against the world' mentality. Nate always admired her exotic beauty and intelligent appreciation of literature and culture, but what troubles him is her smugness and persecution complex. He notes that their "adult relationship was built on his willingness to humor her" (164). He did sympathize with her complaints, for in "Romania, she'd been denied all sorts of academic honors because she was Jewish" (164). In the states, she worked as a computer programmer to put him through private school and a good college.

In...