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Summary
Chapter 1: Found Objects
The “A side” of the novel begins in what the narrator calls “the usual way”: Sasha Blake is tempted to steal something. She’s in the bathroom of the Lassimo Hotel hiding from her date when she sees a bag sitting on the floor, its owner out of sight in one of the stalls. Sasha debates leaving it alone, but eventually steals the woman’s wallet. In the first of several time jumps in this chapter, we skip forward to Sasha discussing this episode to her therapist, Coz. He tries to get her to admit that she feels bad for stealing, as she’s refused to accept responsibility for it for the five years he’s been seeing her. Sasha mostly steals from people because she likes to take things that mean something to her victims. Cox tries to persuade her to see the challenge in resisting the urge to steal, instead of stealing itself.
During therapy, Sasha lies on a blue leather couch while Coz sits behind her and talks. The narrator returns to the night of the stolen wallet, when Sasha was on a date with a man named Alex. After stealing the wallet, she feels refreshed and excited, even though the evening has been mediocre. Sasha asks Alex if he wants to go somewhere else and he agrees to. He has a strong, young-looking body and seeing it makes Sasha feel old. She’s 35, but works out and avoids the sun to look younger; he thinks she’s 28.
The narrative shifts back to Coz's office. Coz asks if Sasha considers how her stealing affects her victims. Sasha knows the answer he wants and thinks about all the things she’s failed at, like managing a band, understanding the news, learning Japanese, and practicing the harp. She brushes Coz’s question off and tells him she never thinks about the people she steals from. She recalls how she once stole a screwdriver from a plumber fixing her tub, because she couldn’t resist how important it was to him. The stolen screwdriver felt special while he was there, but totally meaningless after he left. Sasha is in therapy because of incidents like this, where she regrets about stealing, but can’t stop herself.
The story returns to Sasha and Alex’s date. As they leave the building, a desperate-looking woman comes up to them asking if they’ve seen her wallet. Sasha realizes it’s the woman from the bathroom, the one she stole from. Sasha is calm at first but starts to worry when a security guard gets involved, and she ducks into the bathroom to “search” for the wallet. She quickly chews up a Xanax, and the woman follows her into the room soon after. Sasha realizes she will have to come clean as there’s nowhere to stash the wallet, so she confronts the woman, confesses that she has a problem with stealing, and hands the wallet back. The woman takes a beat, and then agrees not to say anything.
Sasha and Alex leave the hotel again. Sasha is already bored of Alex, and she hates Tribeca, the neighborhood they’re passing through. Back at her apartment, Alex immediately notices the vast array of stolen objects that Sasha keeps on display. She hates how exposed this makes her feel, but her discomfort quickly evolves into the two having sex. Afterward Alex asks to take a bath, and Sasha agrees. As he’s running the water, she goes through his jeans, takes his wallet out, and finds a piece of paper that says, “I BELIEVE IN YOU.” She feels ashamed of herself but pockets the paper. Finally, back in the therapy session, Coz asks if Sasha replaced the note. She says she didn’t have a chance, but Coz doesn’t believe her. Sasha wishes she could tell him that stealing the paper was a turning point and that she has changed, but she can’t.
Analysis
Sasha's kleptomania is one of her defining characteristics, which is clear from the importance the author affords it right from the start. For Sasha, stealing isn’t just about getting something new, it’s about taking things that are meaningful to others. Her compulsion to steal items from people rather than from stores or corporations is part of her psychological need to connect with others in a way she can control. She’s not just selective about what she takes from others, but also in the information she gives them. For example, as she hasn’t told Alex her true age, he still thinks she’s 28 years old instead of 35. Although she has no idea if this would make a difference to him or to other men on the dating apps she uses, she thinks withholding that information will have a material benefit. Even at this early point in the story the reader can see that Sasha is dealing with some very real and painful insecurity.
This chapter is written from the third person, which gives the reader a sense of distance from the protagonist. Sasha can see herself from the outside thinking about stealing the wallet, knowing that taking something from a person is morally worse than stealing “cold, inert goods” from stores as she used to. She’s making a choice to harm people every time she takes an item, and from the list of things her therapist writes down, she’s taken a lot. Taking the wallet is not just a crime, but a manifestation of her internal struggle with identity and control. Her reasoning behind the theft—that her life is dull and she wants to live dangerously—reflects her dissatisfaction with herself and her current circumstances.
It's notable here that Sasha cannot verbally admit that she steals from people. When she and Coz discuss her “condition,” as he calls it, he keeps trying to coax the words out of her. However, Sasha doesn’t capitulate. She knows that Coz is “trying to get [her] to use that word” because he thinks it’ll spark a breakthrough for her. Sasha doesn’t think of what she does in terms of stealing, however; she uses words like “lift” and “take” instead. It’s paradoxical, because she’s in therapy trying to remedy her kleptomania but can’t admit she has it.
When confronted by the wallet’s owner, Sasha decides to return it and admits her problem with stealing. This is an odd, dreamlike sequence in the writing, where Sasha wildly speculates that “she knew, had known all along.” Instead of turning her in, the woman looks very closely at Sasha, so closely that she feels as though she is being seen. The woman’s eyes almost seem to touch Sasha physically as they “move over her face.” This moment is, ironically, exactly the kind of connection Sasha is looking for. She feels that the woman is sympathizing and connecting with her. Of course, she’s unable to articulate this to Coz, who is sitting behind her as she talks, as he doesn’t like to make eye contact with his patients. There seems to be a disconnect between what Sasha needs (to be seen and known) and what Coz needs (to help her stop stealing). It’s implied that if her therapist were to make eye contact, the sessions might be much more effective.
Back at her apartment after the date, Sasha’s interaction with Alex probes further into her issues with hoarding stolen things and the act of stealing itself. She doesn’t hide her treasures away, but displays them around the apartment, as they “contain years of her life compressed.” The objects themselves, like the screwdriver she stole from the plumber, have lost all their power for her. However, they act as reminders that that power and excitement existed, keeping her chasing the next fix. When Alex takes his bath, he asks to add some bath salts which Sasha had stolen from a friend, and she’s immediately perplexed, as she hadn’t ever imagined actually using the things she stole. Almost as if in revenge for his taking them, she goes through Alex’s pants and steals the thing which seems to be most personally meaningful to him, a piece of paper that reads “I BELIEVE IN YOU.” When Coz asks her if she gave the paper back, she’s suddenly desperate to tell him something that will make him believe she’s had a breakthrough. She wants him to like her, because she can feel his disapproval radiating toward her. In the chapter’s final irony, it becomes clear that Sasha is scared about failing to connect with her therapist. Coz’s sole job is to help her with her compulsions, but he becomes part of the problem.
