46 pages • 1 hour read
Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons
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Part 4-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 4: “The Nineties”
Part 4, Chapter 30 Summary: “June 1991 – Merit”
The club reads Handling Sin by Michael Malone.
Merit, who first thinks she is going through menopause, finds out she’s pregnant. She marries Frank, and her daughters are happy to have him for a stepfather. Merit has a girl, and Frank names her Portia. Merit sees Eric at their eldest daughter’s high school graduation and finally talks back to him, telling him her life with him was hell.
Part 4, Chapter 31 Summary: “November 1993 – Audrey”
The club reads The Stand by Stephen King.
After helping counsel Faith, Audrey realizes she wants to be a minister. She tells Grant how she felt visited by God, who asked him to help her do His work. The Housewives support her as Audrey goes through pastoral training. Grant reveals that Stuart contacted him, and that Stuart tested HIV positive. Audrey proposes Grant for the Angry Housewives, and he is voted in. The women welcome him by teasing him about a secret pledge.
Part 4, Chapter 32 Summary: “May 1995 – Kari”
The club reads My Antonia by Willa Cather.
Kari is upset when her brother Anders dies. Audrey is now a pastor and youth counselor. Faith feels she is a new person and isn’t comparing her life to that of others any longer, and made up with her husband. Grant stood by Stuart as he died of AIDS. Merit’s eldest daughter is engaged to be married. Slip is tired all the time, and Jerry takes her to the doctor to run some tests. After her brother’s funeral, Kari is sitting next to Mary Jo and Julia, and she realizes she is ready to tell Julia about her biological parentage. Julia notices her feet are just like Mary Jo’s. Julia demands the truth, then runs off when she hears it.
Part 4, Chapter 33 Summary: “August 1995 – Grant”
The club reads A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway.
Grant recounts how he grew up as a squeaky-clean conservative; he thought he was asexual until he was out of college and met a theater owner named Perry. His father rejected Grant when he found out he was gay. Grant loves the Angry Housewives and thinks: “I’ve been in the trenches of daily life with them, and if you ask me, that forges the stronger friendship” (364). Faith is happy with her life and now signs her letters “Love, Faith.”
Part 4, Chapter 34 Summary: “January 1996 – Slip”
The club reads The Beginning and the End by Naguib Mahfouz.
At the book club, Slip rants about how the world is unfair for women. Julia hasn’t spoken to Kari in six months. Flannery wrote a book and asks Slip to read it. Slip went through treatment for Hodgkin’s disease but is now in remission. She is delighted to read Flannery’s book.
Part 4, Chapter 35 Summary: “October 1996 – Kari”
The club reads Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset.
Kari flies to California to see Julia, who wants her to meet her fiancé. Julia finally read the letters Kari wrote her and is ready to reconcile.
Part 4, Chapter 36 Summary: “May 1997 – Merit”
The club reads Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler.
Merit enjoys reading aloud to Frank and reflects that their book club is celebrating their 30-year anniversary. Frank suggests making a T-shirt with all the books they’ve read.
Part 4, Chapter 37 Summary: “August 1997 – Audrey”
The club reads Eastward Ha! by S.J. Perelman.
Audrey is floored by news of Paul’s death. She reflects on all the things that attracted her to him, and how they remained cordial after their divorce. Audrey talks with a pregnant teenager she is counseling and gradually gets through to the girl.
Faith is astonished to receive a letter from her father. He is now deceased, but his name was James O’Brien, and he left Faith a letter explaining why he left her. She tries to contact her half-sister and is rejected. She is a bundle of emotions at knowing she has family.
Part 4, Chapter 38 Summary: “January 1998 – Grant”
The club reads Love in the Ruins by Walker Percy.
Audrey and Grant share a house and get along well as roommates. The club members decide, for their 30-year anniversary, to reread their favorite books. Slip shares Flannery’s book, which is being published. She also reveals that the cancer has come back. They have another snowball fight, then they all make snow angels.
Epilogue Summary: “September 1998 – Faith”
The Housewives keep Slip company as she is in the hospital for what they guess will be the last time. Fred visits; he is now married and started a book club at his library. Faith makes a scrapbook for the group, and she and Slip chuckle over the pictures. Slip says she’s going to make sure her own life has a happy ending.
Part 4-Epilogue Analysis
In this section, the focus on female friendship is subverted when Grant is inducted into the Angry Housewives. The group is now gender inclusive, with Grant’s narrative about his self-discovery and self-acceptance mirroring the stories of the female protagonists.
The characters have reached the end of their arc. At the beginning of the novel, Audrey’s sensuality drove her. Now, she is able to enjoy a platonic friendship with Grant and a congenial relationship with her ex-husband, reflecting her transformation. She has also turned toward spirituality, another big shift. Earlier, the narrative emphasized her lack of faith—now, she embraces it. However, her personality has not changed—she’s still quite irreverent. Her role as a pastor does not suppress who she is, but allows her to use her empathy.
Merit’s journey entails finding fulfillment and self-realization after her first marriage. The narrative illustrates Merit’s newfound confidence when she talks back to Eric at their daughter’s graduation. Her ability to stand up to him shows that she had truly reclaimed herself.
Kari’s journey focuses on motherhood and honesty. She almost loses Julia when Julia realizes that Kari lied. In this way, the novel alludes to the impact of deception and the importance of authenticity. Julia’s hurt mirrors Slip’s uneasiness when she learns Faith’s secret, where the secrecy seems like a violation of their relationship and trust. The narrative shows that healing is possible through communication. Kari’s letters to Julia, written as faithfully as Faith’s to her mother, help to mend their relationship, and allow Julia to understand her mother’s motives. Despite the challenges that the women continue to encounter, reconciliations permeate the section with an optimistic tone.
Faith also enjoys a new revelation about her identity when learning her father’s name and life story, as well as the news that she has a surviving half-sister. The enlargement of her family mirrors Kari’s adoption of Julia and Merit’s surprise pregnancy. Faith is transformed and healed by learning that her father loved her. Faith, at the conclusion of the book, is hopeful for a reconciliation with her half-sister. This echoes how Audrey remains hopeful that she might yet find true love.
The novel continues to explore The Power of Books and the Imagination. Books have formed the centerpiece around which the women have shared, revealed themselves, and bonded. The 30-year anniversary of the book club becomes, in a way, a celebration of their friendship. While it’s possible these relationships could have still developed, their shared identity as the Angry Housewives has acted as a glue. The celebration of the books they’ve read is also a celebration of what they’ve survived. The concluding image in the last chapter, the snowball fight, echoes their first meeting. The addition of snow angels is both hopeful and bittersweet. They reflect Audrey’s newfound spirituality and imply that there is something transcendent, beyond the earthly sphere, holding the women together. On the other hand, it also alludes to the loss of Slip to cancer.
The book ends on a note of mingled humor and loss as the women quietly laugh during the vigil for their friend. It’s an irony that Slip, the one who had a fortunate life—a loving and supportive husband, talented children, engaging and rewarding work and interests—is losing this final, grimmest battle. Faith’s scrapbook implies that the record of their friendship will outlast them. It acts as proof of their shared bond and what they survived together.
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