Summary

Chapter Two of “October” is titled “Hot Water.” May begins this chapter with a description of a trip taken with her family to a mineral-springs in Reykjavik, Iceland. She describes the origins of the spring as being connected to the exploration and utilization of geo-thermal energy, how healingly good it feels to be in such hot water, and how good it also feels to be in a locker room with women whose bodies were not shaped and toned by gym visits. She sees these bodies as evidence of a continuity in life. “That’s what you learn in winter,” she says, that “there is a past, a present, and a future. There is a time after the aftermath” (38).

May briefly outlines some of the circumstances that led her to Reykjavik – a tendency to travel north into wintering lands during times of...