Summary
When the novel opens, Jude and Willem are searching for a New York City apartment into which they can move together. However, their lack of money makes finding an apartment challenging. They confide their struggles to their two other friends, JB and Malcolm. The apartment search is growing increasingly urgent because Willem needs to move out of the apartment he is currently sharing with roommates, and Jude is growing uncomfortable staying with Malcolm and his parents. The four friends have been roommates throughout college. JB mentions that one of his colleagues at the magazine publishing office where he works might have a lead on an apartment, so Willem meets JB at his office the following day. JB currently works as a receptionist, but his true hope is to establish himself as an artist, and he hopes that the connections he makes from working at a magazine might help him to get there. However, JB is growing increasingly frustrated with his lack of progress.
Willem and JB walk to an apartment building on Lispenard Street, where JB's colleague, Annika, shows them the apartment. Annika is flustered by Willem's good looks, which is a common reaction he inspires. The apartment is cramped and unattractive, but it is within their budget, and Annika is willing to rent it to them. JB thinks about how he is lucky that his own family is much wealthier and would ensure he never had to live in a place like that. JB is Haitian-American and grew up in Brooklyn. His father died when he was very young, and he was raised by a close-knit and loving extended family of his mother, aunts, and grandmother. He has always been economically comfortable and had access to a good education and the unwavering support of his family, who believe he is destined to be a great artist. Now, JB returns to his mother's house every Sunday to reconnect with his family. He considers himself very lucky, especially in comparison to his friends: Malcolm has a distant relationship with his parents; Willem's parents are both dead; Jude has never revealed anything about his family history, but they are clearly not a part of his life.
On the day of the move, the elevator breaks. This is a problem because Jude has trouble navigating stairs, but he, Willem, and a group of their friends are able to complete the move. Once Jude and Willem are alone, Willem notices that Jude is in pain, so he distracts himself by unpacking. The friends know that Jude has some sort of medical condition which affects his legs and his mobility and regularly causes him intense pain, but they don't know any details of what the problem is. Jude tries to hide how bad his pain sometimes is, even though Willem loves his friend and wishes he could do more to help him.
Malcolm returns home after helping with the move, feeling discontented and embarrassed about the fact that he still lives with his parents, even though this arrangement gives him a very comfortable lifestyle. Malcolm feels that his father doesn't respect his accomplishments or profession and prefers his sister, Flora, or even Jude. Jude is a lawyer like Malcolm's father, and he currently works as an assistant prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office. Malcolm also feels stagnant and stuck with his life in general, but doesn't know how to move forward. Malcolm works as an architect. He makes very little money and thinks a lot about the role class and race play in his life. He is uncertain about his sexuality and sometimes finds himself attracted to both Willem and Jude.
Every day after his receptionist job ends, JB travels to a studio space which he rents to work on his art. Other artists, including a sculptor named Richard, also work in the shared space. JB has recently begun working on a series of paintings depicting his friends, even though he knows Jude does not like to be looked at or to have his photo taken. Jude's hesitation had led JB to promise that he would always get Jude's permission before showing any paintings of him. However, JB is working on a painting of Jude which he knows Jude would dislike, and he plans to show it without asking his friend first.
Willem has been working as a waiter for several years, although he dreams of being an actor. He is unsure of whether he truly has the talent to succeed, and notices that he seems to lack the ambition which drives JB and Jude. Willem feels rooted in his relatively humble background: he grew up in Wyoming in a poor family. His parents lost two of their children very young, and their second child, Hemming, was born with cerebral palsy. Willem grew up taking care of his older brother, and this experience has made him compassionate and caring. Willem was very attached to his brother, and when he was in his second year of college, he learned that Hemming had had an appendectomy. Willem desperately wanted to go and see his brother, but he did not have the money to do so, so Malcolm lent it to him. A few months after the visit, Hemming got sick again, and while Willem debated whether or not he could arrange to return to Wyoming, he learned that his brother has died. Willem spent the subsequent summer working at a camp with disabled children and staying in an apartment with Jude, who worked for a professor and also part-time at a bakery. Willem lost touch with his parents after the death of his brother, and they both died while he was in graduate school.
With Jude and Willem settled into their new apartment, JB decides that they should host a New Year's Eve party. The night before the party, Jude wakes up Willem, explaining that he has cut himself and needs to be taken to see his doctor, Andy. While the friends were in college, Jude had a severe episode with his legs and met Andy, who was working at the campus medical clinic. Ever since then, Andy is the only doctor Jude will see, and the two of them have developed a very close relationship. After Andy tends to Jude's wounds, he speaks with Willem and explains that he is concerned that Jude may have been attempting suicide, although Jude insists he wasn't. Andy reveals that Jude has a history of self-harming behavior. Back at the apartment, Jude goes to bed and Willem notices the scars on his arms. Willem has suspected that Jude might be engaging in self-harming behavior since he always wears long sleeves, but he has always been too shy to bring it up, especially since Jude is so private and reluctant to talk about his past and his emotions.
The next day, despite Willem's misgivings, Jude insists on going ahead with the party. During the party, the four friends end up accidentally locked on the rooftop in the cold. In desperation, Jude suggests being lowered onto the fire escape and then entering the apartment through the bedroom window. Willem watches, fearful that Jude will get hurt, and then goes down to help him. Together, the two friends are able to get back inside the apartment, and then let JB and Malcolm inside.
Analysis
The novel's opening section combines youthful optimism, uncertainty about the future, and hints of a much darker past. The four friends occupy a time of hope and instability as they transition from their college years into trying to understand what they want their adult lives to look like. The fact that they have retained bonds with each other and with other friends from college implies how formative those years were, as well as how much the networks they established as students will shape the rest of their lives. Even though they are still relatively young, it is considered notable that Willem and Jude would choose to live together. At this moment in time, most people assume the decision is made because Willem and Jude have little money and it therefore makes economic sense for them to live as roommates. While that is undoubtedly part of the reason, Jude and Willem also enjoy the companionship of one another and are already beginning to function as each other's chosen family. Neither of them has a family of origin to rely on, and they have a deeper relationship because they share this bond. At this point, it is not clear what Jude's history involves, but his secrecy implies that he has suffered and is now alone in the world. Although Jude and Willem care deeply about Malcolm and JB, they have a bond that they cannot share with the other two, and this initial set-up will remain consistent for the rest of the plot.
Even at the start of the novel, differing class positions and career choices are beginning to impact the lives of the four friends. JB and Willem both long to make a living from their creative passions but are trapped in mundane work while they wait to see if they will be able to achieve the success they dream of. However, the two of them respond to this experience in very different ways. Willem is humble enough to accept that he may never get to make a living as an actor, and he never loses sight of the fact that he is grateful for the life he already has. JB, on the other hand, is impatient and entitled. Because he has much more economic privilege and has grown up being lavished with praise, he truly believes that he is brilliant and too good to have to do anything except making art. A similar dynamic plays out between Malcolm and Jude. By studying law, Jude has made the most conservative choice out of the four friends, but because he works for the Attorney General rather than in a more lucrative corporate law practice, he still does not have much money. Jude is willing to patiently work his way up, take every opportunity, and invest a lot of effort to build success for himself. Malcolm, on the other hand, has grown up with money and emotional support, and so he constantly questions what he truly wants. The differences among the friends imply that stable family background does not necessarily lead to success.
Many critics have remarked on the strange sense of timelessness Yanigihara evokes in her novel. The author provides specific details of place and culturally precise contexts that create realism. For example, the musings of the young men on self-fulfillment, authenticity, pursuing their passions, and navigating ambiguous experiences of sexuality suggest that the novel is most likely situated in the late 20th or early 21st century. However, there are never any references to political or historical events that might situate a more precise date for when events are taking place. Given how well-educated and influential Jude and his friends go on to be, it is striking that they never reference or discuss any events outside of the insular world of their careers and personal lives. The novel also only rarely references technology; the narrative spans almost thirty years, yet time seems to never truly progress or change as Jude and his friends grow older and life changes around them. As Daniel Mendelsohn observes, "the novel provides so little historical, cultural, or political detail that it's often difficult to say precisely in what era the characters' intense emotional dramas take place. The only world here is the world of the four principals" (pg. 672).
Although the novel's point of view will gradually narrow and become more and more focused on Jude's experiences, the opening section pays fairly equal attention to each of the four friends. Jude is presented largely through the way the others see him: enigmatic, mysterious, and guarded. Jude's charisma and capacity for kindness are implied through the fact that the others persist in befriending him even though he shares so little about himself. Jude's intellectual capacity and tolerance for hard work are also made clear through what he is able to achieve. Unlike the other friends, Jude pursues a career rather than a passion. Jude's self-harming behavior makes a dramatic entrance into the plot when he cuts himself very severely and has to ask Willem for help. Jude is very secretive and prefers to keep his problems to himself. Strong intimacy is established between Jude and Willem because the two of them live together, and so Willem is exposed to parts of Jude's life that he otherwise keeps hidden.
While Willem will have access to some intimacy with Jude, Andy is introduced as the one character who will truly know all of the things Jude tries to hide. Jude requires medical treatment because of his disabilities involving his back and legs, as well as because of his self-harming behaviors. Jude hurts himself, but he does not want to die, so he always seeks medical treatment in an effort to make sure he stays functional. Andy has to shoulder a severe burden of knowing the full truth about what Jude has suffered and what he is doing to himself. The Hippocratic Oath and policies around confidentiality shape and constrain what actions Andy will take, but this section makes it clear that even after only knowing Jude for a few years, Andy is already frustrated and tormented by his inability to help Jude.
