Penguin | amazon
Main Broom page | Broom Index
These notes were made to aid my failing memory and I share them to benefit those who wonder where read books go after they've sat in your brain for a few weeks. DO NOT read these scribblings without having first read the book. Spoilers appear, unintentionally but unavoidably.
PART ONE | |
| page | 1. 1981 |
| 3 | Lenore visits big sis Clarice at Mt. Holyoke – Party downstairs • Wang Dang &Biff barge in pantyraidishly, want their asses signed – Lenore leaves authoritarily |
| 2. 1990 | |
| 22 | "You have a bony pelvis" – Rick tells Lenore heartbreaking leprosy-ish story in bed |
| 3. 1990 | |
| 28 | /a/ Causality bird turd sequence – Lenore arrives at Shaker Heights home to visit great-grandmother, also named Lenore |
| 31 | /b/ Imagine how Lenore feels: Gramma Lenore is missing |
| 32 | /c/ Rick's journal: "Lenore, come to work" |
| 32 | /d/ Bloemker tells Lenore about Lenore's absence (Lenore's dad—Stonecipher Beadsman III—owns the home) |
| 37 | /e/ Home's layout – Bloemker & Lenore visit Lenore's room – "Don't discuss this" – Antinomy |
| 44 | /f/ Rick's Queen Victoria "ineffectual cunnilingus" dream |
| 44 | /g/ East Corinth, OH looks, from the air, like Jayne Mansfield – Erieview Tower's shadow's interaction with Bombardini Building – Lenore is three hours late – Peter Abbot can't fix the phones |
| 4. 1972 | |
| 53 | TRANSCRIPT: Great Ohio Desert conception and planning meeting |
| 5. 1990 | |
| 57 | /a/ Rick: Who would believe my life would turn out like this – Rick met Lenore at Dr. Jay's – Rick's ardent pursuit of Lenore – Rick's faceplant into Lenore's front porch shrubbery – Magic night |
| 69 | /b/ Lenore can't reach Dad (on trip with Gerber) |
| 72 | /c/ Rick ruminates on impotence, Lenore, the other Lenore, Veronica, Vance (possibly gay) – Homesick – Vaguely suicial notion |
| 79 | /d/ Walinda fires Lenore. (No, the other one). |
| 6. 1990 | |
| 81 | /a/ Bombardini orders nine (9) steaks at Mooradians |
| 83 | /b/ Rick tries to get Lenore to tell him about Lenore – They join Bombardini at his table; he wants to eat himself to infinite size |
| 7. 1990 | |
| 94 | /a/ Lenore's possessions and apartment – Vlad speaks! |
| 99 | /b/ Lenore & Candy shower and dress for the evening – Vlad speaks more |
| 103 | /c/ Rick reads Lenore a sad story (crying causes epileptic fits in kids, and then their luck gets worse) |
| 114 | /d/ Lenore talks in her sleep |
| 115 | /e/ Lenore can't sleep, thinking about weird stuff from the day |
| 8. 1990 | |
| 116 | /a/ Lenore squares off with Dr. Jay about his talking to Rick, and about "words being a life" – Lenore gets impatient |
| 123 | /b/ Monroe Fieldbinder story: "Fire" |
| 123 | /c/ Centrex manual – Raring's phone hacks – Peter says tunnel guys have all disappeared |
| 128 | /d/ Fieldbinder watches house burn across Adirondack lake |
| 129 | /e/ John seizes in a Chicago taxi |
| 131 | /f/ Rick's "mexican hotel mouse clerk" dream |
| 132 | /g/ Patrice, in Wisconsin, is questioned by a caregiver |
| 135 | /h/ Rick and Dr. Jay argue about membranes and hygiene anxiety |
| 138 | /i/ Lenore sees Bloemker and Brenda at Gilligan's |
| 9. 1990 | |
| 146 | /a/ Lenore's dad finally sees her, chastises her continuing slackerhood, hints at Lenore Sr's transaction proposal |
| 148 | /b/ Advertising Age column: Stonecipher vs. Gerber |
| 149 | /c/ Dad continues telling Lenore about Yingst's cattle pineal research and how Mrs Yingst & Mr Etvos stole that and Obstat's work |
| 153 | /d/ TRANSCRIPT: Stonecipher III and Patrice's 1961 wedding (Gerber loses Stone III's ring) |
| 156 | /e/ Dad dispatches Lenore to Amherst to get info from LeVache |
| 158 | /f/ Fieldbinder ideas |
| 10. 1990 | |
| 159 | /a/ Lenore visits Clarice's family (surname: Spaniard) – Chutes & Ladders – Spasova interview on TV |
| 163 | /b/ More Fieldbinder and fire – Vance photo – Rick's "bellagio" dream (please forgive my attachment to this image...I cannot resist -smr-) |
| 164 | /c/ Spaniard family theater: masks |
| 168 | /d/ Letter to Rick from Stone III: Here's a contract, now take Lenore to Amherst |
| 169 | /e/ The Spaniard family's mask-intensive ritual continues |
| 170 | /f/ Rick discusses Spaniard marital woes and subsequent "marriage therapy/family therapy" |
| 171 | /g/ Spaniard mask performance ritual (mercifully) concludes |
| 173 | /h/ Vlad rattles off several lines |
| 11. 1990 | |
| 175 | /a/ Lang tells Mindy, in about as assholish a fashion as can be imagined, "Don't love you no more." |
| 179 | /b/ Stoneciphico company jet taxis into position at Cleveland Hopkins airport |
| 179 | /c/ On the flight to Amherst Rick tells Lenore story about love-addicted guy and "ugly, tree-frog-living-in-her-neck" woman – Rick gets jealous (and possessive) w/r/t Lenore |
| 197 | /d/ Chicago hospital report on John's game show delusion |
| 200 | /e/ Limo ride from Bradley airport to Amherst – Lenore's Docksiders rant |
| 206 | /f/ Rick reminesces at Amherst – Janet Dibdin incident |
| 213 | /g/ Lenore visits LeVache (aka Antichrist, aka AC) and meets his slacker/alky roomies – LeVache rules the roost |
| 223 | /h/ Rick meets Wang Dang Lang in old haunt – They have 23 things in common – Rick gets an idea... • Rick fawns over a sleeping Lenore |
| 236 | /i/ Lenore and LeVache sit on sprinklered hill and talk about Lenore Sr – Rick and Lang emerge from forest |
PART TWO | |
| 12. 1990 | |
| 257 | /a/ Flight back to Cleveland: Rick tells Lang about Patrice/LeVache delivery/birth...extracts a promise that he (Lang) not persue Lenore |
| 271 | /b/ Lenore returns to find that Vlad the Impaler is a celebrity |
| 273 | /c/ Mrs Tissaw commandeers Vlad and hires him out to Rev. Sykes |
| 13. 1990 | |
| 281 | Rick "ungifts" Vlad from Lenore, pines for her to vocalize any love she has for him at all, frets over her "love reversal" concept, insecure about Lang (et-effing-c. ad-effing-nauseam, poor guy) |
| 14. 1990 | |
| 292 | /a/ Abbot works on F&V phone console – Bombardini's wreath – Candy tells Lenore "Lang wants you bad" |
| 298 | /b/ Rick and Lang discuss Corfu timeline & Cleveland statue |
| 299 | /c/ Rick's journal: swimming children emerging clean from the pool – Obstat – Dad |
| 301 | /d/ Lang & Obstat at Gilligan's Isle – Everyone wants Lenore! |
| 305 | /e/ Rick hires Lenore as a reader |
| 309 | /f/ Dr Jay get transcripts back from Mrs Yingst in a tunnel |
| 15. 1990 | |
| 312 | LOVE. Rick's own story: (Fieldbinder tells Slotniks that Costigan was photographically and artistically obsessed with their son Steve.) |
| 16. 1990 | |
| 324 | /a/ Rick's journal entry: Lang & Lenore now live under same roof (reverie: Rick has infantile genitalia, Lang sketches Lenore, then Lenore manually pleasures Lang, then Rick unrinates voluminously) |
| 325 | /b/ SESSION TRANSCRIPT: Dr. Jay forces the membrane issue with Lenore, advocates for Lang |
| 333 | /c/ Over lunch Lenore tells Rick she disliked "Love," not knowing he wrote it |
| 338 | /d/ Mindy calls F&V, Candy takes the call |
| 340 | /e/ SESSION TRANSCRIPT: Jay insinuates to Rick that Lang plooked Lenore, Rick gets fed up |
| 349 | /f/ Rick vents about Dr. Jay in another Fieldbinder story |
| 353 | /g/ Lenore apologizes for not liking "Love" – Rick still smarts from latest session with Jay |
| 354 | /h/ Mindy visits F&V, chats with Candy about Lenore, Lang, Rick |
| 17. 1990 | |
| 362 | /a/ Rick's journal: Lang hurts Lenore – The pulse of the toilet's water level |
| 362 | /b/ Lenore reads childrens story to Concarnadine – Concarnadine family history – Obstat arrives |
| 372 | /c/ Rick considers Mindy in enumerative detail: calves, posture, scent, sounds. 1, 2, 3, 4 – Rick, really jealous of Lang, snips at Lenore |
| 378 | /d/ Mindy & Candy lunch at Mooradians – Mindy's checking up on Lang and making her own purple dress |
| 384 | /e/ Beeberling gouges Lenore & Lang at Spasova show ticket booth |
| 388 | /f/ Rick and Mindy dine, and discuss her job and training at F&V |
| 392 | /g/ Lang & Lenore go back to Lang's (who is occupying Misty's room in Mrs. Tissaw's house while Misty recuperates) – Lang lets a carefully chosen few of Rick's cats out of the bag, then makes a move on Lenore |
| 406 | /h/ Rick's problem arises (so to speak) with Mindy – She spanks him |
| 408 | /i/ Lang and Lenore's evening has progressed – They share some more – Lang gets to 2nd base with tearjerking story about his grandmother (or, rather less cynically, Lang tells Lenore heartrending story about his grandmother waiting on the porch daily for his family's weekly visits) |
| 18. 1990 | |
| 418 | /a/ Patrice tells her caregiver the "cook-and-moose-droppings" joke |
| 419 | /b/ Fieldbinder: He and Evelyn and bird escape from burning home, jump into swimming pool |
| 420 | /c/ Lang & Obstat, in rowboat, surveil Rick & Lenore as they cavort on G.O.D. lake shore |
| 421 | /d/ Rick mulishly insists on telling his "paralyzed theoretical dentist" story/allegory to Lenore, who really REALLY needs to talk |
| 433 | /e/ Lang, still in rowboat with Obstat, gets frustrated |
| 434 | /f/ Fieldbinder: Scolded by Slotnik for shtupping Evelyn |
| 436 | /g/ John is released from hospital |
| 437 | /h/ Rick persists with the translucent allegory – As Lang and Obstat come ashore, Rick cuffs himself to Lenore (strongly evoking the ending to the Frank Norris novel McTeague) and disintegrates emotionally and psychologically |
| 19. 1990 | |
| 443 | Lenore only cried once in front of anyone, unlike Rick of course. |
| 20. 1990 | |
| 444 | Practically the entire cast of the book converges in the Bombardini Building lobby (with Lenore, nonplussed, in the eye of the storm) – Bombardini himself begins belly-slamming the building like a sumo wrestler |
| 21. 1990 | |
| 458 | /a/ PARTNERS WITH GOD SHOW TRANSCRIPT: Ugolino (Vlad) goes great guns on TV with Rev. Sykes and choir |
| 462 | /b/ Rick and Mindy in a bedroom – Rick inches toward madness |
| 464 | /c/ Ugolino and Rev. Sykes again: "Let's play 'Grab The TV Screen' " |
| 466 | /d/ Mindy undresses in front of Rick, who promises he'll tell her |