Holding Up The Universe

The next section of the book opens four days later. Jack is trying to go to Kam’s house, but his father stops him for a “serious” discussion (451). Jack’s parents call Jack, Marcus, and Dusty into the living room and inform them that they are getting separated. Though the news is not surprising to Jack, but that does not make it any less devastating.

Jack eventually makes it to the party at Kam’s house, where Libby and her friends are also in attendance. Alone with Caroline in one of the bedrooms, Jack realizes that he finds Caroline largely uninteresting. When Caroline begins undressing and suggesting sex, Jack thinks, “I don’t love Caroline. I don’t even like Caroline” (461), and he turns her down. Meanwhile, Libby has begun dancing with Mick from Copenhagen, and although she kisses him, she finds herself unable to stop thinking about Jack. Jack, who has now returned to the party, finds himself lost in a sea of un-seeable faces. He comes across a girl whom he believes is Caroline and begins making out with her, only to realize that, once again, he has mistaken her cousin for Caroline. At this point, Jack decides to announce his prosopagnosia; however, the other party-goers take it as either a cop-out or a joke.