40 pages • 1 hour read
Maria SempleA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
In an extended flashback, a third-person narrator describes how Ivy met her husband. In 2003, Eleanor, working on Looper Wash, hears about Barnaby “Bucky” Fanning, a sugar and cotton heir from New Orleans who is friends with her coworker Lester. Eleanor and the others at Looper Wash find him fascinating, and Bucky, upon learning that Eleanor is a direct descendant of former US president John Tyler, goes to New York for a party that Lester is throwing. There, he meets Eleanor’s sister, Ivy, who has grown into a tall, beautiful woman. She started modeling in high school before attempting to transition to acting and accidentally joining a cult, from which Eleanor and Joe had to rescue her. She has been in a Dior campaign, lost money in a Ponzi scheme, been in a relationship with a shaman, and been treated for bulimia. At the time she meets Bucky, she is working at the Looper Wash offices. She soon moves in with him, and they get married a year later.
Before the wedding, Eleanor and Joe visit the couple in New Orleans for their engagement party. Eleanor feels confident that Bucky will make Ivy happy and finally feels relaxed, knowing that her sister will be okay.
By Maria Semple