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Esther visits Buddy at the sanatorium he is staying at in order to beat his tuberculosis. Esther turns down Buddy's marriage proposal by saying that she will never marry. They then go skiing, and Esther breaks her leg in two places. -
Esther and Doreen meet a few men at a bar, including Lenny Shepherd. They go back to his apartment, and Esther eventually leaves after Doreen and Lenny get too close. -
After a breakfast banquet, all of the girls become violently ill from their crabmeat being laced with ptomaine.
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Esther goes on a date to the UN with a man named Constantin. She tries to seduce him, but he merely holds her hand. Constantin drives Esther home at 3 in the morning. -
Esther goes out with Doreen, Lenny, and Lenny's friend, Marco, for a blind date. Marco becomes aggressive and tries to assault Esther, but she escapes and finds a ride home. -
Esther moves back home to Massachusetts with her mother. She learns that she was rejected for the writing course she planned on taking. Esther decides to write a novel, but eventually feels incapable and gives up. -
Esther is recommended to visit a psychiatrist, Dr. Gordon. She tells him that she has not changed clothes or washed her hair in 3 weeks, and she has not slept in 7 nights. Esther receives a shock treatment that traumatizes her, and she decides that she is done with Dr. Gordon. -
After a few half-hearted attempts on her life, Esther downs a bottle of sleeping pills and falls asleep in her crawl space. -
Esther is recovered and admitted into a series of mental hospitals, each getting nicer as she progresses. She is given medicine to regulate her chemical imbalances. -
After an encounter with a man called Irwin, Esther goes to the hospital because she is hemorrhaging. -
Joan, a high school friend of Esther's and a fellow patient at the hospital, commits suicide by hanging herself. -
Esther interviews to be released from the mental institution for good.
