Writers and Lovers

On the way to Oscar’s book reading at Wellesley, Oscar largely dismisses Casey’s stress over not remembering or noting down Jennifer’s feedback. He tells her agents are full of it, but Casey tries to tell him how insightful and interesting Jennifer is. When they arrive at the bookstore, the owner is flushed to meet Oscar and tells him that the writer Vera Wilde will be coming to the reading and wants to have dinner altogether afterwards. Although Oscar says he’s pleased by the idea, having known Vera for a long time, in a private conversation with Casey Oscar is jealous and upset about his book reading compared with Vera’s. While Vera filled an entire church, Oscar’s reading has six chairs at the back of a bookstore. He expresses frustration with his career, saying that at age 47—he originally told Casey he’s 45—he should be much further along. Casey is disappointed in Oscar’s anger over the book reading and his career. She realizes that she’s always dated men who, very much like her father, believed they were owed greatness. Casey knows ambitious women, but those women don’t have the same sense of entitlement as the men she has known. But when Oscar starts his reading to a full room, Casey notices that “[h]e takes long pauses between his sentences, giving the