Summary

As indicated by its title, the first chapter of Smith’s novel is written almost entirely in the past tense. The opening words, spoken by the narrator — “Woooooooo-hooooooo what a fall” — belong to the ghost of a teenage girl, who we will later discover is named Sara Wilby, and her words announce the subject of the chapter: that she died by falling four floors down a hotel elevator shaft. These first few pages tell us that she died around half a year ago in relation to the present tense of the novel — she died in the summer, and now tells the story of her death during the winter. The ghost reflects on her own death with a strange mix of obsession and ecstasy, and is excited when she thinks of the experiences of life; now, she says, even “a mouthful of dust would be...