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This chapter-by-chapter summary contains plot spoilers!
Navigate the Summary Parts: Go to the Beginning Red Notebook (Anna's disillusionment with Communism) (Brought to you by kat impatientreader.com) Here Anna explores in a scattering of entries between 1950 and 1953 her growing uneasiness with the British Communist Party. She describes getting interviewed for permission to join by Comrade Bill who treats her with unconscious contempt as if doubting her commitment to the Party. She writes about Michael, the Czech man with whom she is involved and his guilt and fear over the fact that he is a member of the British Communist Party and meanwhile three of his friends have been hanged by the communists in Prague. She anguishes over the execution of the Rosenbergs in the United States for espionage and treason. Later on, she notes that Stalin died, and she and Molly have tried to convince themselves that the "great man" must not have known about the genocide committed under his regime. Her last entries in this section describe her experiences during election time in Britain, going door-to-door and trying to recruit voters to the British Communist Party. She meets several lonely, unfulfilled housewives who plan to vote Labour because their husbands insist on it. Yellow Notebook (Anna's new autobiographical novel) Anna borrows names and personalities from her real life as chronicled in the Black notebook to invent characters. Ella (clearly Anna) is a single mom and novelist who has a young son (in reality, Anna's young daughter Janet) named Michael (in reality Anna's lover's name). Ella lives with her friend Julia in the house that Julia owns. (In reality, Julia is Molly who also owns a house, is Jewish, and is an actress.) Ella works for a women's magazine, answering the letters of unfulfilled working-class housewives who write in for advice. She's secretly working on a novel about a young man who commits suicide. She goes to a party hosted by her coworker Dr. West and meets his coworker, a psychiatrist named Paul with whom she embarks upon a five-year affair. (Paul is another name borrowed from the Black notebook as is George for Ella's ex-husband; like Ella, Anna herself had a five-year affair with her lover Michael). Ella's novel about suicide gets published to good reviews. Her affair with Paul, however, grows more toxic. He is married to a childlike woman whom he claims is utterly dependent upon him as a father-figure, and they have two children. He has affairs with other women as well as Ella. Ella buries her own intelligence and sinks into a mindless contented state with Paul, refusing to pick up on his hints that their affair won't last. Paul flees to a job in Nigeria to escape both wife and mistress. Later, Ella hears he has returned to England. As this section of the Yellow notebook ends, Ella spends her nights dressing up in glamorous clothes and standing by her window, waiting for Paul to come for her. She admits to herself that this is crazy behavior. |
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