The Last Anniversary

The motif of Fate Versus Self-Determination is further developed through this section when Sophie and her mother encounter a self-proclaimed psychic at the spa. Using the logic behind the phrase “a broken clock is right twice a day,” Moriarty employs the psychic to initially represent a comically incorrect figure who is disregarded because she does not provide the answers that Sophie and her mother want to hear. However, the psychic’s supposition that Sophie wants a career change turns out to be accurate; it is only because she points out Sophie’s dissatisfaction with her job that Sophie realizes she is bored and unchallenged. The episode also explores social pressures on women and the complexity of these within familial relationships; although Sophie’s internal monologue has praised her parents for not putting her under pressure to have children, her mother’s response to the psychic, and Sophie’s awareness of this, demonstrates the tensions that the novel explores around women’s roles and life purposes.

The novel extends the theme of fate versus self-determination as Sophie meets Rick and Ian and wonders which man Connie intended for her. She is also aware that she is not as attracted to either man as she is to Callum. Because Ian and Rick are so different, Sophie feels it is difficult to choose between them; each of them has some of the characteristics that she desires in a partner, but neither of them feels completely compatible with her. The suggested dilemma between Sophie’s apparent choice between the two available men and her illicit crush on the married Callum sets up an exploration of her difficult feelings in trying to find a partner, further complicated by the behavior of Grace, who is deliberately putting Callum in Sophie’s path. This idea of a choice between the men situates Sophie's options as alternatives between available partners, rather than between finding an ideal partner or remaining single, further revealing the novel’s treatment of female role expectations and pressures.

The project that Margie is embarking on with her new friend Ron, whom she privately thinks of as Rotund Ron to differentiate him from her husband, remains a mystery and helps to drive the ongoing suspense of the mystery narrative; through the partial information that is revealed, the reader is led to believe that Margie will engage in a romantic affair with Rotund Ron, partly because her husband treats her so poorly, and this deliberate narrative misdirection continues throughout this section. The deliberate double-naming is partly humorous and partly a means for the narrative to suggest that the second Ron is a direct romantic alternative for Margie’s husband Ron. The alteration in Margie’s character as her friendship with the “other” Ron develops is part of the novel’s theme of Loss of Identity in Relationships. In showing Margie’s increased confidence and enthusiasm, the narrative suggests that her identity has been negatively affected by her marriage to Ron.

Margie’s refusal to tell her family more about the Weight Watchers event that will prevent her from attending the celebration for the first time in her life generates more narrative suspense, as the reader still does not know what this event is, only that it involves Rotund Ron. Margie best exemplifies the theme of loss of identity in relationships; she has given herself completely to being a wife and mother, as well as to caring for her elderly family members and making sure the family business runs smoothly. Margie is often unseen and unappreciated. Her husband stopped caring about her once he was no longer sexually attracted to her, and he would rather make whale jokes than hear her talk about something she is passionate about. In pursuing a course of self-improvement through her weight-loss project with Rotund Ron, Margie gets to discovery a new side of herself that her family (especially her husband) is only too happy to quash.

The novel steps up its graphic exposé of Grace’s distressed emotional state, including homicidal and suicidal ideation. Her sense of isolation is made more poignant by the fact that the novel shows Callum’s worry for his wife and his increasing understanding that she is experiencing serious symptoms of depression. Callum’s conversation with Margie and Margie’s subsequent conversation with Veronika and Enigma reveal the different generational attitudes in conversations surrounding mental health. Callum and Veronika believe that postpartum depression is a very serious condition that requires attention and should be concerning to one’s partner. Enigma and Margie view postpartum depression as something that all mothers go through and should expect to go through alone. Enigma recounts crying into food as she cooked and assumes not that all new mothers should be miserable but that the situation will be manageable and will sort itself out. Veronika is shocked by her grandmother’s attitude, modeling the reader’s fear for Grace; the reader knows, as the other characters do not, that Grace is struggling very seriously and is in an increasingly vulnerable situation. The novel here examines a dark side of the theme Female Solidarity and Secrets. Because the older women believe that their experiences of motherhood are universal (or because for them postpartum depression is a taboo subject), they are perpetuating Grace’s isolation. They also provide a context for her sense of failure, precisely because the gap between her experience and the others seem to have, or project, is so stark.

The narrative inserts that reveal conversations about sharing the secret when family members turn 40 continue to build narrative suspense. The context of the mystery is also increasingly developed: Enigma enjoys the attention that she receives from being the Munro Baby. She was very spoiled growing up, and even though she got to benefit from having three solid parental figures (Connie, Jimmy, and Rose) who adored her, she still revels in the attention that she receives for her supposed orphan status. Enigma’s social standing and financial comfort depend on the Munro Baby Mystery remaining a mystery; the secret cannot be sustained forever if more people find out. Enigma is deeply annoyed that her granddaughter Veronika is determined to uncover the secret and exploit a new story.