The Crowd Dwindles....

On page 219, when Jake narrates, "He was not sure that there were any great moments," I wrote "omniscient?" in the margin. In retrospect, I think the antecedent might be Jake rather than Belmonte, but I thought at the time he meant that Belmonte was not sure there were any great moments, and I thought to myself, "Jake, you're not supposed to be omniscient, you jerk!" Maybe he meant that he was not sure himself that Belmonte had any great moments.

Also, on page 215, when the waiter says "I haff a tabul for two for you gentlemen," it reminded me of Harry Potter, as so many things do, because he sounded in my head like Viktor Krum.

Mike gets extraordinarily drunk and carefully avoids slurring his words by speaking very... slowly..., and he says absurd things like "Brett's got a bull-fighter, but her Jew has gone away. Damned good thing, what?" As he lays in bed mumbling these things, it's sort of a defining moment for his character.

At the end of chapter eighteen, though, I'm confused by "The three of us sat at the table, and it seemed as though about six people were missing." I tried to list six people, but they seem unlikely. Here they are:

-Cohn

-Brett

-Romero

-Edna

-Harris

-Frances

Maybe it's hyperbole. Maybe the absence of Cohn, Brett and Romero is felt doubly. Perhaps the absence of Cohn and Brett is felt triply. Then again, the whole plot revolves around Brett's apparent irresistibility, so maybe her absence is felt six-fold.