44 pages • 1 hour read
Lucy GilmoreThe Lonely Hearts Book Club
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Parts 3-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 3: “Mateo” - Part 4: “Greg”
Part 3, Chapter 16 Summary
Mateo Sharpe and Lincoln Jonas prepare for a night out at the jazz club of Mateo’s mother, Althea Sharpe’s. Mateo overthinks his outfit, as he’s always nervous around his mother. At the club, Mateo and Lincoln chat while waiting for the show to begin. Mateo updates Lincoln on things at the library and on Sloane, who’s invited him into her book club. Mateo likes his library job, but he’s unsure he wants to be a librarian forever. He’s had many jobs, and none of them have stuck.
Partway into the show, Althea invites Mateo to perform with her on stage. She does this every time, and Mateo always agrees, despite his discomfort. Althea makes a big show of presenting him to the crowd. Everyone knows who Mateo is because Althea publicized the story of Mateo’s near death experience in a well as a child. After the performance, Mateo steps outside for some air and remembers falling into the well and the peace he felt while inside.
Mateo bumps into an elderly man smoking outside. He introduces himself as Nigel Carthage and asks Mateo about his alleged book club. He overheard Mateo telling Lincoln about it and asks to join. He gives Mateo his card before leaving. Mateo discovers that Nigel is a book critic for The New Yorker.
Part 3, Chapter 17 Summary
Mateo arrives at the book club with his copy of the next read, The Joy Luck Club. He bumps into Maisey inside. She drops what she’s holding and starts crying over Bella.
Arthur is displeased when he sees Mateo, as he’s never liked him. Mateo tries not to act scared as the group begins discussing their book and its explorations of maternal relationships. Maisey and Sloane reveal that they need Mateo’s medical help with Arthur. Mateo surreptitiously takes Arthur’s vitals while the group continues talking, and Greg McLachlan joins.
Part 3, Chapter 18 Summary
Mateo observes Arthur’s interactions with Sloane and Maisey. Meanwhile, the group discusses Sloane’s former job at the library and Mateo’s new board position. Arthur doesn’t think Mateo is qualified and offers the library a healthy donation if Mateo never bothers him at the library again.
Mateo and Sloane catch up in the kitchen. Mateo doesn’t like the idea of being Arthur’s nurse but is happy to help Sloane. Sloane is glad and tells Mateo that Arthur needs more help “than he’s willing to admit” (185).
Part 3, Chapter 19 Summary
At work, Octavia tells Mateo that Nigel Carthage made a large donation to the library. Mateo is surprised, having believed the donation was from Arthur. He guesses that Nigel wants something else.
Greg confronts Mateo on his way out of work. He wants to know more about Sloane and if she needs compensation. Greg then reveals that Arthur’s hospitalization occurred on the anniversary of his late wife’s death. Greg would appreciate it if Mateo continued to check up on him, as the only other doctor the group knows is Brett, and no one likes him. Mateo agrees and invites Greg over for dinner.
Mateo, Greg, and Lincoln have dinner with Althea. Mateo is desperate for everything to go well because he and Lincoln have been having relationship trouble. During the dinner, Althea tells stories about Mateo’s childhood. The group also discusses Althea’s career and The Joy Luck Club.
Mateo has a good day of writing. He’s been working on a manuscript but hasn’t had the time to devote to it of late. Lincoln is jealous of Mateo’s attention because it’s their anniversary. Mateo fears that their relationship is failing.
Part 3, Chapter 20 Summary
Mateo and Lincoln end up seated near Sloane and Brett during their anniversary dinner. Mateo dislikes Brett but is happy for the distraction. He and Sloane discuss Nigel Carthage, his donation, and his connection to Arthur. Lincoln becomes convinced that Nigel is interested in Mateo and is trying to take him away. He gets so upset that he leaves the restaurant.
Part 3, Chapter 21 Summary
Mateo and Lincoln continue their argument in the restaurant parking lot. Lincoln demands to know why Mateo keeps complaining about The Joy Luck Club. Mateo admits that it’s too cliché “for a gay little mama’s boy from the Philippines” to relate to Amy Tan’s novel (208). Lincoln encourages him to stop thinking so negatively about his relationship with Althea. Mateo knows that Althea loves him, but he also knows that he’s been trying to protect himself from her since he was young. Sloane then races out of the restaurant, announcing that Arthur collapsed, and Maisey and Greg need their help.
Part 4, Chapter 22 Summary
When Greg’s mother was on her deathbed, she made Greg promise he would repair the relationship with Arthur that “she’d broken a long time ago” (215). He’s trying to fulfill his promise now, but it’s proving difficult. After Arthur trips on an umbrella stand and injures himself, Sloane and Mateo arrive to help. Greg studies how they interact with him. He’s begun to see how miserable Arthur is and why Hannah left years ago. However, Greg also notices Arthur softening around Sloane and Mateo. Greg suddenly feels like a legitimate member of the group. He offers to stay with Arthur to keep an eye on him, although Arthur protests.
Part 4, Chapter 23 Summary
Greg and Maisey chat while Greg packs up his things to head over to Arthur’s. They admit that they’ll miss one another. They talk about Maisey’s relationship with Bella and Greg’s relationship with Hannah. Greg also reveals the grief Arthur experienced when his wife died and the anger he directed at Hannah thereafter. Sloane and Mateo join. They decide to look into Nigel together.
The friends discover that Nigel taught at North Idaho College at the same time as Arthur. They wonder if Nigel only wants to be in the club because he’s lonely and misses Arthur. The theory seems dubious, so they agree to keep digging. Then they discuss Arthur’s condition and recovery. Greg realizes that if Arthur gets better, their group might fall apart.
Part 4, Chapter 24 Summary
Greg agrees to attend Althea’s show with Mateo and Lincoln. Arthur invites himself, too, as he’s desperate to get out of the house. The evening goes smoothly at first. Arthur is particularly moved by Mateo’s performance with Althea. However, he gets upset when he discovers that Mateo has Nigel’s handkerchief.
Part 4, Chapter 25 Summary
The book club visits North Idaho College’s library to research Nigel again. They discover a picture of him with Arthur and Arthur’s wife, Eugenia Pittsfield. The men are both regarding Eugenia longingly.
Part 4, Chapter 26 Summary
Mateo, Maisey, and Sloane guess that Nigel, Arthur, and Eugenia were part of a love triangle. Because Greg isn’t convinced, he asks Arthur about his relationship with Nigel that afternoon. Arthur gets upset, insisting they never mention Nigel to him again. He becomes verbally aggressive with Greg and says that Hannah wouldn’t be proud of him for what he’s doing. Sloane intervenes and manages to appease Arthur. Afterward, the friends privately decide to invite Nigel into the group so Arthur has to face him.
Part 4, Chapter 27 Summary
Greg tells his colleague that Arthur isn’t well, and he can’t return to work yet. He feels guilty for abandoning his job but doesn’t want to leave Arthur. He gave up his time when Hannah got sick, too.
Arthur confronts Greg about Sloane. He doesn’t approve of Brett and doesn’t want Sloane to marry him. Greg realizes that Arthur is really upset about Hannah and Eugenia. Arthur breaks down when Greg reveals that Hannah told him to come and see Arthur.
Sloane is the first to arrive for book club. She and Greg chat while they wait for the others. They talk about loss and share memories about Emily and Hannah. Nigel’s arrival interrupts their conversation.
Parts 3-4 Analysis
Parts 3 and 4 trace the Racing in the Rain Book Club’s evolution by way of Mateo’s and Greg’s respective first-person points of view. In Part 3, Mateo’s voice controls the narrative. In Part 4, Greg’s does so. These structural choices grant each of the primary character’s perspectives equal importance and value. Each of their vantage points provide worthy insight into the book club dynamic and the world beyond it. Furthermore, Mateo’s and Greg’s perspectives provide nuance to Sloane’s and Maisey’s perspectives while complicating the novel’s developing thematic explorations. In particular, both Mateo’s and Greg’s sections convey the ways in which Sloane’s impromptu book club is healing and transforming each of its members through friendship and literature. Mateo and Greg are as different from one another as Sloane and Maisey. However, like their female counterparts, Mateo and Greg long for companionship, community, understanding, and friendship. The Racing in the Rain Book Club offers them this essential social sphere.
The closer the book club members become to one another, the more similarities appear between them. At the outset of the novel, Sloane, Maisey, Mateo, and Greg appear to have nothing in common. Parts 3 and 4 reveal that all four of these primary characters feel equally isolated. Furthermore, they’re all intimate with loss and fear. Both Mateo’s and Greg’s chapters explore the ways in which fraught familial dynamics might preclude the individual from discovering and understanding himself. Mateo is the only son of a famous jazz singer. Although his mother, Althea Sharpe, is loving and affectionate, Mateo has spent his entire life trying to step “out of [his] mother’s shadow” and to fall “into one of [his] own” (164). His mother’s vibrant personality feels like a threat to Mateo as she actively overshadows him. He therefore does everything in his power to diminish his own personality and to disguise his connection with her from a young age. The anecdote about him falling into the well is a metaphor for Mateo’s entrapment and insecurity. As a result, Mateo is alienated from his true self. He doesn’t want to adopt his mother’s identity as his own and is therefore left floundering for self-definition he hasn’t found via work or romance. The same is true for Greg, who has felt dislocated from his identity ever since the death of his mother, Hannah. Because Hannah didn’t have a relationship with Arthur, neither did Greg. In the narrative present, therefore, he feels like an outsider despite being in his closest living relative’s home. Both men are therefore dislocated in their own ways. As a result, they’re both seeking acceptance and belonging. The book club thrusts them into the complexity of The Dynamics of Unlikely Friendships and begins to teach them The Importance of Community Support.
Mateo and Greg begin their respective journeys toward self-discovery and personal growth by connecting with and relating to others. Because Sloane, Maisey, and even Arthur are on similar journeys of their own, Mateo and Greg find a loving, supportive network via the Racing in the Rain Book Club. This is why the characters feel sorrowful whenever they realize that their new friend group might not last forever. This fear is particularly acute for Greg, who is new in Coeur d’Alene and an outsider in the Idaho community. If he had come to Coeur d’Alene alone to reconnect with his grandfather, he wouldn’t have been able to confront his longings and hurts or his questions and desires in the same way. Once he realizes that he’s “become an official member of this book club/support group for the down and downtrodden,” he’s emboldened by the “feeling of being needed—of being wanted” (221). Therefore, the book club begins to mimic the structure and mood of a found family. Each of the book club family members is as unlikely as the next, but together, they form an indomitable unit. They not only love and support one another, but they also challenge one another to pursue healing and transformation with each other and for themselves.
