59 pages • 1 hour read
Ann NapolitanoWithin Arm's Reach
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 1, Chapters 1-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary: “Gracie”
Twenty-nine-year-old Gracie Leary shares the story of her grandmother Catharine McLaughlin. Catharine bore many children, including her firstborn daughter, who died from flu-related dehydration at three years old, leaving Gracie’s mother Kelly the oldest living sibling. Catharine took on the responsibilities of the house and made being a mother her focus in life. Gracie then tells the story of Catharine giving birth to her and Patrick’s twin children.
After a grueling labor, Catharine gave birth to the stillborn twins. The usually stoic Catharine wailed in sorrow and the doctor had Patrick take the deceased babies away. He threw the stillborn twins in the outside garbage can. Gracie likes the story of the twins’ birth because it shows her family’s resilience. This inspired her to start writing, with her then-boyfriend Grayson helping her get a job as a writer at The Bergen Record. She says that the McLaughlin family, including her mother Kelly, tends to conceal their feelings and has been getting quieter in conversations as a result.
Gracie notes that she also shares this McLaughlin secrecy despite being a Leary, sharing that she uses her secretive nature to make up things in her flirtations and encounters with men. However, she knows she cannot keep all of her secrets, having become pregnant.
Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary: “Catharine”
Catharine imagines her deceased family members standing in front of her as she is driving. She also tries to come to terms with Gracie’s pregnancy, which she knew about after seeing her a couple of weeks before. She recalls Gracie making tea while she was at Gracie’s house and her correcting Gracie’s grammar in spite of herself. She explains that she is able to tell when a woman is pregnant and is trying to figure out how to help her granddaughter, not believing that her daughter and son-in-law will be able to help Gracie with the baby. She soon imagines her dead family members again, including her parents, her late husband Patrick, their daughter, and the stillborn twins. This causes her to get into a minor accident, which Louis—her son-in-law, Kelly’s husband, and Gracie’s father—happens to witness. He gets her out of the car and takes her to the hospital, where his daughter and Gracie’s sister Lila is training as a medical student.
While Lila examines Catharine, Catharine expresses a desire to hold Easter with the whole family at Gracie’s house and encourages Lila to stay with Gracie while she is in med school.
After being discharged, Catharine returns to her room at the Christian Home for the Elderly and thinks about her life. She recalls growing up with Irish immigrant parents. Her father, who owned a hotel business, had assimilated well into American culture, but her mother became more visibly Irish and appeared to have delusions. Though she had trouble respecting her mother, Catharine did her best to love her mother. She also got a bachelor’s degree in nutrition and enjoyed her quiet life despite her difficulties with her mother. She then met Patrick at 23, whom her parents liked due to his being Irish American, and, with his charm, he was able to connect with both parents. Through his conversations with her mother, Catharine began to respect her more. Over the years, her father visited her, but she never saw her mother again after the wedding.
Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary: “Louis”
Louis exits the Municipal Building following a town council meeting with the mayor, Vince Carrelli, when he sees Catharine get into a minor car accident. As he drives her to the hospital, he thinks about how he had been there two months before following the death of his crewmate Eddie Ortiz after an accidental fall while working on a house. He waits in the hospital for Catharine to be examined, being comforted by Lila’s presence there. He then goes to the hospital’s chapel, where he thinks to himself that the Jesus on the crucifix looks like Eddie. He explains that Eddie was a hardworking young man and Louis was going to give him a raise and promotion. He also thinks about Eddie’s widow and wants to reach out to her. Louis then reveals that Eddie’s death had caused him to isolate himself from his wife, straining their marriage.
As Catharine is being discharged, Louis asks if Nurse Ortiz, Eddie’s wife, is there, and the nurse there says she is not. As he is driving Catharine to her home, he mentions that the doctor suspects she could have had a mild stroke, which Catharine dismisses. He tries to get her to let him help, but Catharine insists she will deal with her health alone.
Louis recalls meeting Kelly’s family while they were dating and hoping to get their approval. Noticing the secretive communication between them, he realized that he was different from them. After dinner, Catharine told him he needs to get Patrick’s approval as he is the head of the household. He asked Patrick for permission to marry Kelly and Patrick approved it, only because she was getting older at 26 years old and he believed she was not attractive.
Louis then drives to Eddie’s house and again considers reaching out to Eddie’s widow, but acknowledges that she might not want any handouts from him or the crew. He also reveals that he went into real estate because of the lower risk compared to construction. He avoids the area where the accident occurred as he drives home and, there, he lets Kelly know about Catharine’s accident. Kelly becomes angry that he did not tell her, as she is Catharine’s daughter, and becomes frustrated once again at Louis’s inability to talk to her more.
Part 1, Chapter 4 Summary: “Gracie”
Gracie decides that she needs to tell Joel, her boyfriend of four months and the father of her baby, about the pregnancy. Joel, who works as a volunteer firefighter and an assistant of Mayor Carrelli, has a mostly shallow relationship with Gracie, as he is still in love with his ex-girlfriend Margaret and has trouble getting over her. On the way from the grocery store, Joel’s best friend Weber enters Gracie’s car asking her to give him a ride because his truck is in the shop.
Weber gives a tarot reading and suspiciously asks Gracie if she is cheating on Joel. She is tempted to say yes hoping that if the pregnancy cannot be traced back to any man she can pass it off as an Immaculate Conception and gain praise from her family instead of disappointment. However, she decides to be honest. Gracie explains that she does not cheat in her relationships, but she has ended relationships early so she could return to having one-night stands, which she finds thrilling. She later informs Grayson about her progress on the column and tells about the end of their relationship. Though she quit to avoid being fired, Grayson encouraged her to return to the job, and they remained friends.
After Joel visits the house and they have sex, Gracie tells him about the pregnancy. After assuring him that she went to a doctor, she answers that she is keeping the baby and does not want Joel involved. However, he becomes upset and says neither intended it to be serious. He insists that the baby is not his and then leaves. The following morning, Gracie finds Lila in the kitchen and remembers that she is staying with her. Lila shows her pictures of when they were children and informs Gracie about Catharine’s accident.
Gracie tells Lila about the pregnancy, which surprises her and causes her to become frustrated. She states that Lila has a temper like Kelly’s and Patrick’s that she keeps under control but sometimes loses in situations like these. Gracie also reveals that she had had an abortion before, the aftermath of which she struggled with due to Catholic guilt. She also wrestles with her own decision to carry her second pregnancy to term and wonders if she might have wanted it all along and how it will affect her life in the short term and long term.
Part 1, Chapter 5 Summary: “Lila”
Two days after that morning, Lila wakes up early to find Gracie kicking another man out of the house after a one-night stand. After he leaves, Lila confronts Gracie about this and angrily chastises her. Gracie retorts that at least she has had experiences in life, and after the two sisters stare angrily at each other, Lila leaves to go to the hospital. There, she confronts a patient, who demands local anesthesia despite it not being necessary. Her colleague Belinda does it instead and Lila explains that while she was at the top of her class and flew through the first half of medical school, she is beginning to struggle with dealing with her new coworkers and the social dynamics as she starts the in-hospital work.
During her break, she goes into the bathroom where the mother of another patient she is treating suffered a concussion. Though the mother is worried about her son, Lila impatiently assures her that he is being treated and in stable condition and that he had gotten drunk and had foolishly caused it. Her shortness shocks the woman and causes Dr. Lewis to reprimand her and ask her if she truly wants to be a doctor; he says she will need to start being nicer if she wants to succeed. Lila contemplates this on the way home and worries about her future, knowing that her temper and impatience are making doctors not want to work with her. She starts considering moving out as well. At Gracie’s house, Gracie apologizes to Lila and after Lila makes a remark about the Dear Abby columns, Gracie explains how the girls who have written to her have impacted her. Lila then goes for a walk and sees Joel and Weber. Weber tells Lila he knew about Gracie’s pregnancy due to supposedly being psychic and tries to convince Lila to have a drink with them. However, Lila angrily tells the two to stay away from her and Gracie and leaves.
Part 1, Chapters 1-5 Analysis
Within Arm’s Reach uses many conventions and plot elements commonly present in fictional family dramas. The plot introduces these conventions early, with the first chapter setting up Gracie’s unplanned, out-of-wedlock pregnancy as the inciting incident that will catapult the McLaughlins into an interfamily conflict. It also introduces the unspoken tragedies Catharine faced when she was younger. Like with the secrets introduced in family dramas, Gracie’s narration establishes that Catharine’s and the family’s secrets, as well as Gracie’s, will be revealed in the later parts of the novel.
The novel resembles many family dramas in that it explores the perspectives of multiple family members, whose individual voices and personalities add nuance to the plot. Catharine provides an older-generation perspective common in some family dramas, showing the development and origins of the conflicts within the family, including her mother’s perceived mental health issues. Gracie and Lila’s perspectives show how familial stress, generational wounds, and personality differences can affect siblings born and raised in the same environment. Louis’s perspective in this section shows how being in the family through marriage can create tension and difficulty in feeling like one belongs. It also shows how trauma and survivor’s guilt can impact a person’s relationships with their spouse, children, friends, and acquaintances.
The novel’s first section introduces the four main point-of-view characters, Gracie, Catherine, Louis, and Lila. Gracie is shown to be a talented writer who takes great interest in people’s stories, especially those of her own family. She dedicates most of her narration in the first chapter to detailing her grandmother’s raising of her nine children, including Gracie’s mother, Kelly. Writing permeates Gracie’s life, even when she is not doing it professionally. She states, “[T]hat has become my obsession, and sometimes livelihood, putting words to sensations, inklings, feelings” (6). This is important because it defines the way Gracie processes her thoughts, feelings, and decision-making throughout the novel. Gracie’s interest in casual sex is another important aspect of her personality established in this section; she feels confident when she is having sex with strangers and has difficulty committing to relationships. Nevertheless, she is devoted to raising her baby, even though she knows her pregnancy will upset her family and she will struggle financially as a single mother. This decision shows her inner determination and her willingness to go against the pressure of her family when she feels strongly about something.
The second point-of-view character is Catharine, an Irish American Catholic woman of strong, traditional values. Two important elements of Catherine’s backstory established in these chapters are the conflict Catharine has with her mother, whom she always believed was delusional, and Catherine’s ability to see the ghosts of her family members.
The third point-of-view character, Lila, is shown to be highly intelligent, being at the top of her class in medical school. However, she is rather impatient, which puts her at odds with Belinda and other doctors at the hospital where she works. Lila’s impatience with the patients and unhappiness early in the novel shows that she truly does not want to be a doctor, foreshadowing her decision to drop out of medical school later in the novel. Lila’s impatience and temper are also established to be difficult even for Gracie and Louis at times.
The fourth main point-of-view character is Louis, whose trauma and guilt over Eddie’s death give him nightmares and make him obsessed with making things right for Eddie’s widow and children. Despite not being a McLaughlin, Louis is dedicated to his wife’s family, finding Catharine quickly after her accident and taking her to the hospital for an examination. His grief over Eddie’s death further strains his rocky relationship with Kelly.
The first section introduces the theme of Shifting Family and Generational Dynamics through the contrast in the relationships of Catharine and her family and Gracie and Lila. Catharine and Patrick are established as firm but loving parents, while Louis and Kelly are shown to have been more hands-off in their parenting of Gracie and Lila. These varying parenting styles will later be shown to have both positive and negative effects on the youngest McLaughlin generation. Gracie and Lila are revealed to have been deeply competitive and unharmonious sisters when they were children and teenagers; however, they both became friendlier and more understanding toward each other as adults, though they still have clashing personalities.
The theme of Emotional Expression and Communication Within Families is also significant early in the novel. Gracie reveals early in the novel that communication is a collective weakness for the McLaughlins. They are extremely secretive and struggle to talk about their feelings. Gracie hides facets of herself in her regular interactions with her family and others, as does Lila. Catharine is rather stoic and struggles to talk about her feelings, especially her grief over her children who died. Louis is troubled by Eddie’s death but struggles to communicate this to Kelly.
The Role of Tradition and Change in Personal Development is established as a major theme in this section. Catharine still holds to her Irish Catholic values, including believing sex belongs in marriage. However, she is shown to have become more forgiving of her family’s flaws, deciding she will help Gracie and her baby. Gracie also goes against the traditional upbringing of her childhood, having started engaging in premarital sex at a young age and initially choosing to carry her pregnancy without a husband, though she knows this will upset and anger the family.
Family photographs appear as a symbol of the unbreakable tie between the McLaughlin family, even when they are angry and/or distant with each other. For instance, after Lila moves in with Gracie at Catharine’s recommendation, she shows Gracie pictures of them when they were children. Though Lila does not remember the day the pictures were taken, the pictures do make Gracie remember their childhood, and the interaction eventually helps the sisters grow closer throughout the novel. This also foreshadows that pictures of the sisters become increasingly important at the end of the novel.
The beginning of the novel uses multiple literary devices. The novel introduces aspects of magical/supernatural realism with the inclusion of Catharine’s ability to see her family’s ghosts. This ability is explored more throughout the novel, and it is later shown that other members of the McLaughlin have supernatural insights and special traits. The novel uses flashbacks at points as well, such as the exploration of Catharine’s past when she was younger and Louis revisiting the night he had dinner with Kelly’s family and got Patrick’s blessing to marry her. The novel also includes ambiguity, making the nature of Catharine’s visions unknown initially and showing the assumption that her mother was of unsound mind for conversing with her dead family members.
Related Titles
By Ann Napolitano
