52 pages • 1 hour read
Lynn PainterNothing Like the Movies
Fiction | Novel | YA | 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.
Chapter 34-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 34 Summary: “Liz”
Liz and Campbell dress up for the Halloween party. Liz borrows Campbell’s clothes to dress like Batgirl. At the party, Liz tries to blend in so that Wes won’t find her. She wonders what she’ll do if he does recognize her in the crowd.
Chapter 35 Summary: “Wes”
Wes arrives at the party with Mickey and AJ, and he’s dressed as Batman. He breaks away from his friends to find Liz. He finally finds her when he smells her perfume and recognizes her mouth and hands. They step away from the crowd and close themselves inside the attic stairwell. They quickly realize that they’ve accidentally locked themselves inside. They text their friends but have to wait for someone to get the key from the landlord. In the meantime, they go up into the attic and talk. Wes presses Liz about the date, but Liz insists that Wes doesn’t know her anymore. They start asking each other questions so that they can get reacquainted. Then, Wes asks if she would kiss him if they “were just a random Batman and Batgirl at a Halloween party” (362). They move closer and kiss. After they pull away, Wes asks if Liz is okay.
Chapter 36 Summary: “Liz”
Liz enjoyed the kiss but doesn’t know how she feels. She and Wes start talking about what happened when their friends arrive and open the attic for them. Back downstairs, Liz loses Wes in the crowd and hopes that he’s not upset with her. Then, he texts her, saying that he’s still thinking about the kiss and will pick her up for their date tomorrow.
Chapter 37 Summary: “Wes”
The next night, Wes dresses up and borrows his friend’s car for the date. He’s made a reservation at the restaurant from La La Land because he remembered that Liz always wanted to go. However, during the ride there, she scoffs at one of the songs from the soundtrack. When they arrive, the car dies in the valet line. They have to call a tow truck and wait with the car until the tow arrives. Liz assures Wes that it’s okay that they can’t keep their reservation.
Chapter 38 Summary: “Liz”
Liz and Wes set up a makeshift dinner table on the trunk and eat takeout while waiting for the tow truck. They chat about Liz’s internship and Wes’s future in baseball. Liz realizes what a nice time she’s having.
Chapter 39 Summary: “Wes”
After the car gets towed, Wes and Liz break into a local baseball field. Wes helps her over the fence.
Chapter 40 Summary: “Liz”
Liz and Wes play around on the field for an hour. They’re joking and teasing when Wes grabs Liz, lifts her, and kisses her.
Chapter 41 Summary: “Wes”
Wes and Liz kiss for a long time. Wes’s desire for Liz overwhelms him. When he pulls away, he tells her that he loves her. Liz’s face changes, and she tells him not to profess his love. She wants to pretend that their relationship is new and thinks that professing their love now is too early. Wes argues that they can’t deny their history together and insists that he won’t hide his feelings for her anymore. He tells her that he never stopped loving her and that every time the clock has read 12:13 since their breakup, he’s thought of her. Surprised, Liz admits that she has loved and missed him but hasn’t forgiven him yet. Then, a cop appears and confronts them for breaking into the field.
Chapter 42 Summary: “Liz”
Liz goes for a run the next morning. She thinks about her and Wes’s date. She’s still surprised that he remembered that 12:13 was the time they kissed at prom. Wes texts her, asking if they can talk. Liz knows that she has feelings for him but isn’t sure if she should act on them. She doesn’t want their relationship to play out the same way it did before. At work later, she talks to Clark about the situation. Clark suggests that she forgive Wes, but she doesn’t think it’s that easy. Then, Wes shows up and asks to talk. She says that she needs time by herself to think first.
Chapter 43 Summary: “Wes”
Wes argues that they’ve had enough time apart and insists that they should be together. He reiterates his feelings for her, unsure of how else to convince her of his love. After telling her that their relationship is “worth the risk” (407), he leaves the office. For the rest of the day, he worries that he’s losing Liz.
Chapter 44 Summary: “Liz”
Liz works with the baseball team later that day. As they prepare for the game, Liz thinks about what Wes said to her at the office. She’s still reflecting on their relationship when Wes’s game starts. Then, a ball hits Wes in the chest, and he collapses. Liz panics, desperate to get to him to ensure he’s okay. Suddenly, she realizes that she loves him and needs to tell him how she feels. Clark gives her a ride to the hospital, where Wes has been taken for some tests. At the emergency room, Ross assures her that Wes is going to be okay but will have to stay overnight. He tells her where Wes’s room is.
Chapter 45 Summary: “Wes”
Wes wakes up in pain. He thinks about Liz and gets up to use the restroom. When he returns, he finds Liz in his room talking to him, thinking that he’s behind the privacy curtain. She tells Wes everything she’s thinking and feeling and professes her love. Wes responds, and she turns around, surprised that he’s behind her.
Chapter 46 Summary: “Liz”
Liz and Wes hug each other and kiss. Liz encourages Wes to get into bed when she realizes that he’s in pain. Glad to be together, they continue talking and choose a new song for themselves.
Epilogue Summary: “Omaha—Six(ish) Months Later, College World Series Championship Game, Wes”
Wes plays at the championship game. He feels ready, knowing that everyone he cares about is there. Then, he hears Liz’s whistle in the crowd and notices that she’s wearing his jersey. He hears his dad’s voice encouraging him in his mind, and he plays well.
Chapter 34-Epilogue Analysis
The last chapters of the novel lead Liz and Wes through the final stages of their Journey Toward Healing and Forgiveness. Their experiences getting to know one another again and making amends for the past also help the characters balance their expectations of each other with their newfound relational dynamic and grow as individuals. Their experiences at the Ski Mask-erade, on their dinner date, and at the baseball diamond particularly contribute to their growth. The novel uses specific punctuation and formatting techniques to convey how the characters are learning to self-reflect. For example, in Chapter 34, when Liz goes to the Halloween party, her first-person narration breaks into a series of one-sentence paragraphs that all take the form of questions: “Would Wes be able to recognize me? Did I want him to? Was I actually going to go out with him if he did?” (347). These formal techniques convey Liz’s uncertainty and desire to understand her reality anew. The same is true of the italicized lines in Wes’s narration. In Chapter 35, these lines include “I have to find her,” “Is it weird to love someone’s hands,” and “I’m losing it when her hands make me want to write a haiku, right?” (348-49). These lines represent Wes’s thoughts, provide an entryway into his vulnerable state of mind, and capture his raw emotions. These stylistic techniques highlight the characters’ mutual desire to heal from their fraught past, forgive one another, and grow as individuals and a couple.
The novel uses Wes’s baseball injury as the narrative climax. This incident is a narrative device that awakens Liz’s character to her true feelings for Wes. Throughout the novel, Liz has been reluctant to admit that she still has feelings for Wes because she hasn’t totally healed from her heartbreak over their breakup. Even after they kiss at the party and during their date, Liz still wants “to just pretend the past [doesn’t] exist” (382). She’s afraid of acknowledging her feelings in the present because she isn’t sure if it’s a good idea for her to get back with Wes. This indecision is due to Liz’s fear. She’s afraid to expect too much of Wes and to rekindle their romance because she doesn’t want to be disappointed again. This tension highlights the theme of Balancing Expectations and Reality, something the protagonists must reconcile together.
The author continues to make allusions to romantic films in this section, particularly La La Land. Wes makes a reservation at the restaurant from the film, remembering that Liz always wanted to go. However, on the way, she scoffs at a song he plays from the soundtrack in the car. This demonstrates that Wes still remembers important details from his time dating Liz, such as her desires and likes. However, this detail also shows how Liz has changed since their relationship; she is not entirely the same as how Wes remembers her. Just as Liz’s thoughts toward a song can evolve, so must their relationship. Thus, the author uses this detail not only to solidify the lingering closeness between the characters based on their past but also to emphasize how they must evolve to form a strong relationship in the present.
Ultimately, the climax helps Liz realize what she could lose and changes her outlook. The climax, in turn, ushers the narrative into its descending action and compels the characters to reconcile and pursue healing, renewal, and newness together. Both the hospital scene in Chapter 46 and the championship scene in the Epilogue grant the novel a neat resolution. These latter narrative sequences capture how the characters have changed as individuals and as a couple, bringing the theme of Personal Growth and Coming-of-Age Journeys to its conclusion. In particular, they can show each other grace, own their emotions, and articulate their experiences. The novel uses Liz and Wes’s reconciliation to illustrate that love is still possible even if the journey toward it doesn’t meet the individual’s initial expectations. Throughout the novel, Liz and Wes have had a meandering relationship. By the novel’s end, their journeys away from and back to each other have only enriched their connection and understanding of what they truly want in the future.
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By Lynn Painter
