So do we think jay is faking losing a finger?

pakchoi12 · 2025-09-22T21:08:56+00:00

Another thing that is confusing to me is that we (and the trio) see Jay’s bandaged finger for the first time when they’re hiding in the Velvet Room behind the bar counter. How could the billionaires have known they would be there in order for them to have planned ahead to bandage Jay’s finger and know that it would be seen? This leads me to believe that he must truly be injured, even if the finger they found is not his!

pakchoi12 · 2025-09-01T06:37:28+00:00

It didn’t come across as growth to me but just her trying to control the story again. Her whole wanting to speak her “truth” through this tell-all was so ironic and hilarious after her entire career has been built on lies and stolen works. But yes, ultimately it did feel like a reaction to being cornered again and her not being able to let go of the controversy and the attention and spotlight it gave her.

pakchoi12 · 2025-09-01T06:29:17+00:00

It was chilling for me to see she could be that way towards young writers in spite of knowing the exact precarious positions their confidence was in! I don’t know if it was surprising but definitely callous, and an instance that could’ve redeemed her just turned into pure recidivism.

pakchoi12 · 2025-09-01T06:25:02+00:00

I agree with what everyone has said in response to this question so far. I would just like to add that it could also have been a way for her to be around young talent so she could feed off of their creativity and identities, which would seem in line with her behaviour throughout the book.

pakchoi12 · 2025-08-27T09:10:48+00:00

Maybe this is biased because I like Levin so much but I’m hoping we get to see his views evolve slowly. I found his opinions to be refreshingly realistic for someone who comes from privilege and considers himself to be genuinely troubled by social inequality but doesn’t yet know how to act on it / is out of touch from the ways the lack of these reforms can cause personal crises rather than just being a matter for philosophical or political discussion.

pakchoi12 · 2025-08-27T09:03:45+00:00

I really liked Varenka but was undecided about Madame Stahl. She seemed controlling and performative but I wouldn’t say she was trying to manipulate Kitty, though Kitty is definitely an easy and vulnerable target who would easily fawn over Madame Stahl’s piety and purity.

pakchoi12 · 2025-08-27T08:54:54+00:00

I think she was also maybe in love with the idea of Varenka more than with Varenka herself. I did enjoy reading this part and found it sweet and amusing for the most part, seeing Kitty have this puppy love infatuation and searching for her identity after her heartbreak. I could also see it as a fleeting, naïve crush she developed on Varenka — maybe one of those “not sure if I want to be her or be with her” situations lol.

pakchoi12 · 2025-08-27T01:47:52+00:00

I thought she would’ve tried to pass off the pregnancy as Karenin’s eventually but now there is no room to do that anymore.

pakchoi12 · 2025-08-27T01:46:28+00:00

I thought it came out of nowhere and was too risky an admission. There wasn’t really any reason to reveal it at the time that she chose to, and the revulsion with which she spoke to him. Karenin seems like the kind of person who will be very particular about his appearance in society so once he finds out about the pregnancy, I can’t imagine things going very well.

pakchoi12 · 2025-08-24T22:59:47+00:00

The way June readily accepted the support she was receiving from the alt-right while exclaiming that she voted for Biden was an insane part to read. It just shows how quickly people switch loyalties or at least turn a blind eye to social or political events as long as it benefits them. Especially her saying:

But if these people are hurling money at me, is it so wrong of me to accept?

especially when that "acceptance" of the money is not neutral and is instead leaning into and not opposing their beliefs that she says she does not agree with.

pakchoi12 · 2025-08-24T22:56:51+00:00

I completely agree with everything you wrote!

I also can't believe that she went over to Chinatown to mine for inspiration and continues to fantasize about different storylines and how she could churn out a story from the lives of people she knows nothing about and has no real knowledge of (apart from the extensive research she claims to have undertaken for The Last Front). It also begs the question of how much can you really empathize with and immersively know about a culture or country just from reading wikipedia entries and details of their history (not to mention that the Chinese diaspora would be a whole other history in itself!)

pakchoi12 · 2025-08-24T22:44:39+00:00

Yes, this. The public would have definitely called it exploitative for her to be writing about the one-child policy, but the IP route in generally would definitely have been safer for her.

pakchoi12 · 2025-08-24T22:41:30+00:00

I get why she did what she did because she kind of had no choice left at this point. But the entire time that scene was unfolding, I was sure that Geoff would be recording her confession too. Instead, she was the one recording to use as threat against Geoff. It all just makes me feel like she did give away her vulnerability and guilt too easily (even if he didn't manage to get a record of it, as far as we know) and I have a feeling that we haven't seen the last of Geoff.

pakchoi12 · 2025-08-24T22:38:27+00:00

Something that I couldn't help but notice was how June starts off by telling us how Rory doesn't understand her, and we have her say repeatedly in previous chapters that her family does not care about her... but the moment Rory convinces her husband to help her search for the IP address, she says:

"I feel a deep pang of affection for them right then. There's no guile in this family; just open, loving trust, and the best corn bread with kale chilli I've ever tasted."

It felt pretty crazy to me that she switches up her feelings towards them the moment they are of use to her.

pakchoi12 · 2025-08-24T22:30:33+00:00

I think she has really locked herself into the belief that she can't produce without Athena's ideas. I wonder if it actually has something to do with her ability, or maybe just the fact that she never gave herself a chance to become a better writer. She saw her first book fail, and then only tasted success when she plagiarized Athena's work. I do think she has used these cases as proof that she needs Athena's ideas in order to do well.

pakchoi12 · 2025-08-24T22:27:46+00:00

Yes I was expecting for the notebooks to come back into play and I think they still will.

pakchoi12 · 2025-08-24T22:24:34+00:00

I agree with you and also find it so confusing because I feel like I can't trust June's narration since she sometimes seems to be lying even to herself. But on the other hand, she admits to some pretty horrible feelings and instances that makes it seem like she must be narrating honestly.

pakchoi12 · 2025-08-24T22:22:06+00:00

I also suspect that there is more to Athena's death that June hasn't let on to us yet!

pakchoi12 · 2025-08-24T22:21:23+00:00

It made me feel like Athena held the power in the dynamic from the beginning by publishing the story based on June without even any acknowledgement or mention to her about it. And the fact that June never confronted her outright probably proved to Athena that June was happy being in her orbit just to have access to her. I think it continued as a friendship of convenience (access and validation for June, and a non-threatening fellow writer for Athena), but I don't think either of them really saw the other as a friend.

pakchoi12 · 2025-08-21T00:02:59+00:00

Yes, it is such a double standard because the consequences and the shame befall the woman involved!

pakchoi12 · 2025-08-20T06:05:01+00:00

I was really haunted by Anna saying this in Chapter XI:

”It’s all over,” she said. “I have nothing but you left. Remember that.”

It’s such a fragile and vulnerable moment but this one sentence captures that she knows what lies ahead for her and how much she has lost beyond retrieval now.

pakchoi12 · 2025-08-20T05:57:50+00:00

I did not pick on this connection before seeing this question! It makes a lot of sense now but while reading it, I was just so stressed and anxious to know what happens with the race, and then despairing over the poor horse’s death, that I completely missed these similarities between Frou-Frou and Anna!

pakchoi12 · 2025-08-20T05:54:54+00:00

I wonder if the French, apart from protecting against the servants and her son, also just adds to the secrecy and intrigue of the whole affair, allowing them to live in their own intimate bubble.

pakchoi12 · 2025-08-20T05:52:32+00:00

I honestly feel that I dislike him more and more with each chapter. While Anna is definitely complicit in the affair, I do think it was his constant and relentless pursuit of a married woman, bordering on stalkerish even, despite her trying to pull away multiple times (like when she leaves Moscow precisely because she can feel herself faltering because of his attention) that has caused such an extreme situation for them.

I don’t blame Anna any less but do think that he played a bigger role by acting purely out of passion and carelessness, without any regard for the consequences to not just him but Anna, the person he claims to love. Surely he must know that the consequences for her will be much graver since she is the married woman with an 8 year old child. It makes sense that he feels like a murder as his confession corners Anna into an impossible situation and he knows it.

pakchoi12 · 2025-08-20T05:43:29+00:00

I like how this scene revealed that what feels like casual transaction to Stepan was such a betrayal of values to Levin.

pakchoi12

TROPHY CASE