Part 1: Chapter 2 Summary

The narrator in this novel is Joan Didion, the author herself. She has an interest in physical atmosphere, especially when it has to do with color. For example, the statement "I have: 'Colors, moisture, heat, enough blue in the air,' is Inez Victor's fullest explanation of why she stayed on in Kuala Lumpur. Jack Lovett also speaks of color, making note of the pink dawns that were brought about by the atom bomb tests. Didion herself has a dream of a vision filled with rainbow and a growth of tropical green.

This story will be about Inez Victor and Jack Lovett. Didion writes that she had considered writing the novel about Inez's ancestors but had discarded that idea to focus on Inez instead.

Part 1: Chapter 2 Analysis

In explaining the work of a writer, Didion once used an example of a...