46 pages • 1 hour read
Conversations with Friends
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BetaPart 1, Chapters 15-17Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1, Chapter 15 Summary
The following night, Evelyn proposes a game in which one person pulls a well-known name out of a fishbowl and the others must ask questions to figure out who it is. Bobbi writes down “Frances,” and when Nick pulls her name, Bobbi asks increasingly personal questions. The atmosphere in the room grows tense, even though Nick’s answers are benign, culminating in Bobbi’s question of whether Nick would “find her attractive in a swimsuit” (124).
Frances excuses herself to splash water on her face in the bathroom, and when she comes out Melissa is waiting for her in the hall. She apologizes for Nick, indicating that everyone can tell Nick has a crush on Frances and asking if he has done anything inappropriate. Taken aback, Frances hastily says no and rejoins the group in the living room.
That night, in Nick’s room, Nick and Frances discuss the awkward moment during the game. This conversation leads to Nick’s revelation that he still loves Melissa, despite his problems with her. He seems to think Frances might have guessed or assumed his feelings. Frances is hurt, but she does not admit it, instead insisting she is fine and that neither she nor Melissa really cares about him.
Part 1, Chapter 16 Summary
The next morning, Melissa informs everyone that Valerie, the owner of the villa, has called and will be coming later that night. This news has clearly made Melissa tense; she is intent on making the house perfect and assigns everyone multiple chores. Nick, Frances, and Evelyn go to the grocery store to pick up supplies for dinner. Nick separates from Evelyn briefly to make clear that Frances’s comments the night before hurt him.
As everyone waits for Valerie to arrive, Bobbi gets a moment alone with Frances and says Nick obviously has a crush on her. Frances demurs, saying if anything Nick probably just wants to make Melissa jealous. Bobbi confesses that she kissed Melissa once, on the night of Nick’s birthday party, but the interaction did not go further.
Part 1, Chapter 17 Summary
At dinner, Valerie is insensitive about Nick, bringing up his past struggles with mental health behind his back when he leaves the room. Feeling defensive on Nick’s behalf, Frances bluntly says if Valerie is interested, she should ask Nick about it to his face. Afterward, she walks outside and stands in the rain until Bobbi comes to check on her. Though Bobbi teases her about the outburst, she also says Frances is “very lovable when self-righteous” (147) and kisses her before taking her back inside.
Valerie and Melissa act like nothing happened, treating Frances with exaggerated kindness. When Valerie leaves for the night, Frances helps clean up and takes a pile of dishes into the kitchen. Melissa, alone in the room doing dishes, admits feeling as if she should have stuck up for Nick like Frances did, explaining that she loves him but is intimidated by Valerie, whose influence in publishing impacts her writing career. She then openly asks Frances whether she is sleeping with Nick. When Frances says no, Melissa apologizes.
That night, Frances tells Nick about this exchange and Nick says Melissa asked him the same thing, but he also denied it. They agree that they will have to tell her eventually. Their conversation is interrupted by a knocking on Nick’s door; Bobbi has noticed Frances is not in bed and is wondering if she and Nick should go look for her. Though he briefly considers lying, Nick tells Bobbi that Frances is in the room with him. Though clearly surprised, Bobbi reacts calmly, simply saying she’ll go back to bed. The next day is Bobbi and Frances’s return flight, and Melissa drives them to the bus station in the morning.
Part 1, Chapters 15-17 Analysis
Prior to this chapter, the reader has learned from Frances’s narration that Bobbi can be an instigator who enjoys remaining unruffled while she makes other people uncomfortable, but the reader has seen little of it firsthand. In Chapter 15, however, Bobbi turns her tendency to provocation on Nick. She has no problem embarrassing Nick by asking him personal questions about Frances, and embarrassing Frances, too, in the process. As someone who believes in fluid sexuality, who rejects the assumption of conventional monogamy, and who has a remarkable ability to be comfortable in other people’s discomfort, Bobbi has no qualms about naming the obvious attraction between Nick and Frances in front of everyone, including Melissa.
Frances, on the other hand, considers herself a person who holds almost identical values to Bobbi, and yet finds herself troubled by conventional feelings she would rather not have. She knows that on some level her affair with Nick is the most well-worn of clichés: the older, married man who seems to have no intention of leaving his wife having an affair with the younger woman. Prior to meeting Nick, she did not think of herself as someone who would fall into such a predictable pattern. This is a significant part of why she holds herself at such a remove from Nick and communicates so ironically and guardedly. If she can avoid seeming passionately invested in the affair, then she is subverting the cliché.
Much to her chagrin, however, maintaining her ironic, guarded persona eventually proves impossible, at least in the privacy of her own thoughts. She begins realizing that she has real feelings for Nick, as evidenced by her protective attitude toward him when Valerie gossips about his mental health. Despite being a person who would purport to hold the same values as Bobbi—including a rejection of the assumption that monogamy is the best form of love for all relationships—she finds herself jealous and sad at the thought of sharing Nick’s love with anyone else, including Melissa. Frances realizes that her values and her feelings do not always line up neatly, and that a major part of adult life is deciding when to alter behavior to match values and when to alter values to match lived realities.
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