The American Roommate Experiment

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-8

Chapters 9-12

Chapters 13-16

Chapters 17-20

Chapters 21-24

Chapters 25-28

Chapter 29-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Chapters 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1 Summary

The American Roommate Experiment opens with one of the novel’s protagonists, Rosie Graham, anxiously facing what she assumes is a home invasion of her current New York abode. To complicate matters, the apartment belongs to her best friend, Catalina “Lina” Martín-Blackford, as Rosie’s own residence is uninhabitable due to flooding. (Lina is the protagonist of Elena Armas’s previous novel, The Spanish Love Deception, and is currently on her honeymoon in Peru with her husband, Aaron; Rosie appears in this novel as a secondary character.) Rosie hears curses and obvious signs of someone trying to break down the door. Her phone goes off and she knocks over a piece of furniture, alerting the possible burglar that there is someone inside.

The man on the other side of the door starts to talk to Rosie, and she decides to call the police. The man surprises her by laughing, assuming she is joking: “I’m standing in the hallway. How have I broken in? I didn’t even make it inside” (5). He continues to argue with her, much to the dismay of the 911 dispatcher, referencing a woman who gave him a key to use. When he finally mentions a relative, Rosie recognizes the man’s accent as possibly Spanish. When the man accurately describes Lina, Rosie realizes he is telling the truth. Her shame deepens when the man mentions he missed Lina’s recent wedding. She realizes he is Lina’s cousin Lucas, whom she follows via Instagram and harbors a crush on. (Armas conveys this information to the reader later.)

Rosie opens the door, and Lucas literally topples inside as he was sitting in front of it. She does not realize this fall is partly due to Lucas’s recent leg injury (which is revealed later in the novel). She nearly reveals her habit of following his Instagram. Lucas introduces himself, and Rosie is struck by his looks and smile.

Chapter 2 Summary

Rosie flushes in shame and tries to hide her familiarity with Lucas’s background. She is particularly charmed by his pronunciation of her nickname. To her surprise, he nearly falls when trying to get up from the floor, and she is overwhelmed by his proximity as she helps him up. Rosie recalls that Lucas is a professional surfer. He flirts, but she does not respond; the atmosphere becomes awkward. Rosie intends to leave the apartment, but Lucas notices how settled in she is. She has been trying to reach Lina to tell her that she has been occupying the apartment, but her calls have not gone through; finally, she explains her flooded apartment. Privately, she reflects that she cannot stay with her father or brother in Philadelphia because “[she’d] been lying to them for months […] and going to spend the night with either of them would reveal the truth” (19). Rosie later reveals that she secretly left her lucrative engineering career to publish her second romance novel and become a full-time writer.

To end the awkwardness, Rosie tells Lucas that she will go to a hotel. However, Lucas promises to return the next day so they can get properly acquainted. Rosie agrees and says goodnight. The situation feels surreal given how many months she dreamed of meeting Lucas and dating him.

Chapter 3 Summary

Rosie wakes the next day, still castigating herself for her uneasy behavior around Lucas and overall circumstances. She is tempted to blame Lina for not answering her phone but remembers, “Lina had no idea about my secret crush on her cousin. And that was nothing compared to consistently lying to Dad and Olly about my job situation for months” (24). Her young brother, Olly, interrupts her train of thought by calling her back. He is evasive about his current job, and Rosie reluctantly agrees to stop pressuring him, reminding herself that he is 19 and deserves adult autonomy. She tries to persuade him to visit their father in Philadelphia, as she is hoping to tell her family about her career change, though she pretends she is using a vacation day from her engineering firm. Olly tentatively agrees to meet her at the train station.

Before boarding a train for Philadelphia, Rosie stops at a bakery for sausage rolls, hoping to smooth over conversation with her father with his favorite pastries. Glancing across the street, she sees a man sleeping in a diner and recognizes him as Lucas. Curious and worried about why he is not in a hotel, she goes to wake him. As he rouses, he recognizes Rosie and asks, “[D]id I wake up in heaven?” (30).

Chapters 1-3 Analysis

Elena Armas uses The American Roommate Experiment’s opening chapters to introduce Rosie’s various conflicts—both romantic and personal. Rosie is introduced in The Spanish Love Deception as an afficionado of the romance genre, and in this novel, she has taken to writing her own romance novels. Her horror at mistaking Lucas, a longtime crush, for a robber plays with the romance trope of the meet-cute. This introduces the theme of Tensions Between Romantic Narratives and Reality. Rosie is charmed by Lucas but feels put on the spot and pressured to hide her feelings—as she has been secretly following his Instagram unbeknownst to him and Lina, Rosie’s best friend and Lucas’s cousin. Her dream of meeting him at a wedding (specifically, Lina’s wedding), a conventionally romantic setting, deviates from their actual meeting (at Lina’s apartment). Being considerate, Lucas interprets her attraction and embarrassment as a need to be alone, cutting their encounter short. However, the promise of the romance genre assures readers that this awkwardness will not persist: Rosie and Lucas are guaranteed both a love story and a happy ending. In fact, despite their poorly timed meet-cute, Lucas reciprocates Rosie’s attraction early on, flirting with her during their first and second meetings. His awkward fall during their first meeting also foreshadows the reveal of his recent leg injury, which played a part in him missing Lina’s wedding.

As for Rosie’s personal conflicts, she is currently staying at Lina’s apartment because her own apartment was flooded; she also made a significant career change, which she has yet to share with her father and younger brother, Olly. Both Rosie’s encounter with Lucas and relationship with her family subtly introduce the theme of Imposter Syndrome and Authenticity—with imposter syndrome being a phenomenon in which someone doubts their abilities and feels fraudulent and undeserving. Rosie’s struggles to explain to Lucas why she recognizes him and tell her family the truth about her new career (as a full-time writer of romance novels) reflect her uncertainty about her place in the world—her right to take up space in the world. She cannot even bring herself to tell Lucas about her flooded apartment until coaxed—her own physical space having been taken from her. Furthermore, she is aware that Olly is hiding his current job but feels she cannot push him as she has her own secrets. In a crucial first step, Lucas eventually learns the truth about Rosie’s housing situation, foreshadowing the role that their future relationship will play in helping her understand her place in the world. In this way, Armas also foreshadows the novel’s exploration of authenticity and fulfillment on multiple levels, not just romantic.