47 pages 1 hour read

Ann Patchett

The Magician's Assistant

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1997

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Part 2, Pages 216-276

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2: “Nebraska”

Part 2, Pages 216-242 Summary

Kitty brings Sabine to Walmart, and they bond. Kitty tells Sabine about marrying Howard. They married when Kitty was only 20 years old, after he nearly died falling off a train. Kitty explains that Dot never liked Howard because he used to be a hoodlum. They also talk about Parsifal. Sabine thinks that Parsifal’s claustrophobia comes from being trapped in a refrigerator as a child, but Kitty reveals that their father locked Parsifal in the refrigerator when he was nine years old. It is a traumatic memory for Kitty. Hearing this, Sabine wonders if Parsifal and Phan connected over their past traumas. Kitty begs Sabine for a story about a time when Parsifal was happy, and Sabine tells her about the time Parsifal opened his antique rug store.

Part 2, Pages 243-276 Summary

Sabine has a dream in which she and Phan are in Paris together. Phan tells her about moving to Paris without his family and working as a tailor. In the dream, Sabine thinks she sees Kitty, but it is Parsifal. She runs toward him, all her pain gone, and they embrace.