Chapter 5 Summary

Chapter 5 begins with Anna's meditations on loss. Her loss of her lover Leo, she says, is like the loss of sight for those who go blind; she recalls the sensation of being with Leo almost as being an independent sense and a way of experiencing the world. The grief she experiences at being separated from him at times overwhelms her to the point of disorientation.

Anna recalls an evening spent with friends during her marriage to Brian. Everyone was taking turns recounting dreams, and when it was Brian's turn, he told a dream that he had forgotten was not his, but Anna's. Anna felt pity and anger for him in the moment, and, later the two lay in bed ignoring each other and pretending to be asleep as the couple who was hosting them for the weekend made love in the neighboring room...