Summary

Richard: Brazil, 1990 – 1991. As Anita’s depression and grief over the death of the baby, and her several miscarriages, became deeper, Richard spent more and more time hard-drinking and hard-partying. One morning, he was coming back from a particularly dissolute night out when he accidentally ran over Bibi and killed her. Anita had witnessed the accident, and fell even further into depression, at one point being institutionalized for several weeks under the watchful eyes of her family. Richard descended into complete withdrawal from life: “at the age of thirty-five he considered himself half-dead: he had already lived half his life and the other half was of no interest to him” (256). Eventually, news from his long-time friend Horacio about a possible job teaching at New York University triggered him to make some changes. He applied for the job, interviewed, and received it, taking Anita with...