BE Summary Horst

[Joseph Tracy]

BLEEDING EDGE CH 3 SUMMARY  

      Revisiting my summary with more focus on Horst Loeffler.
When Reg leaves her office Maxine searches for wine in fridge, none there , "Where, in this chilled chaos, is the Pinot E-Grigio?”She
 questions Daytona about it which leads to a semi-friendly tiff, accusations of wineism, therapism, strong words about the hard work of a 12 step program, and when Maxi apologizes for whatever it is, Daytona opens up about her break up with her Jamaican husband, who thinks joint custody means who brought ganja? Maxi reminisces about Horst who is unaffected by pot, emotionally stolid(terminally honky in Daytona's jibe, probably from the mayonnaise and white bread) .
 Daytona goes back to work leaving Maxine thinking about Horst
 "Unless Horst is somehow on her mind, which she can’t say he has been, not that much, not for a while.” We don’t believe her and her thoughts betray the reality.

We find out Horst is emotionally reserved, He is also a gifted  predictor of commodities futures and consequently loaded. We find out more about Horst, that there is no alimony, Maxine got apartment and Horst got cherry 59 Impala.
This is pretty generous on Horst’s part. Even for a successful man NYC apartments are serious money, and it sounds like the  arrangement was a painless agrement. We find out later Horst had no taste for arguing with Maxine an is an easy touch for money.

A little more history of Horst and Maxine unfolds in comic vignettes. Horst was partier but kept partying after they married and that caused breakup when he had a affair with Muriel( a fantasy about women with Cigar-brand names ensues). He also had affair with Heidi, which remembering, Maxine wonders if Daytona is more sympathetic listener than her best friend. She met Horst at bar in Chicago; he kept calling, had her do CFE work to stay in touch with her. The jobs ranged from work for a relative on her sixth gold-digging marriage, to a fake Kosher inspection shakedown racket. During romance Horst considers converting to Judaism, but balks at circumcision. In this memory Horst’s appeal is comapared to a Harley Knucklehead,  and the reader gets an imprecise but negative impression. Later after a long speech at Kugelblitz by March Kelleher, March asks old friend Maxine, " who is the Sterling Hayden look alike” with her. It’s Horst. So then we understand 2 resons why the women were after her man.
   
Despite the negative cast of her memories about Horst due to the infidelity and break-up, we know Maxine can’t stop thinking about him and may not be adverse to a reconciliation if there are some changes.  This family and marriage becomes a still turning point in a  radically changing, more dangerous world, and with all its endearing  and disturbing imperfections has something to say about  how people and place become home and a thing we still need.

If anyone wants to take a full-novel look at Horst I think that would be a good way to use discussion time for CH3.  Or any of the characters really .This chapter continues  basic background on Maxine focusing on her  employee- Daytona, her freind-Heidi, her ex-Horst and a scary building, The Deseret. I personally am not pulled toward the text as a source of meaningful passages or sentences and there is no action.  I tend to want to explore one or more of these 4 figures within the full dimensions of the novel as a way to respond to this chapter. 
Is anyone up for that? 
Intensely opposed? If not I will have more to say about one  or more tomorrow.