Notkin's Orals party — the cocktail set-piece; Joelle nearly ODs in her bathroom

pivotal · 7 Nov YDAU

• When: 7 Nov YDAU (afternoon into evening, the day before O.N.A.N. Interdependence Day)
• What: Notkin throws the celebratory party at her co-op, still costumed as Karl Marx a day after her Orals, among a crowd of doctoral candidates seated in fiberglass director's-chairs and dancing the Minimal Mambo. She greets and re-veils Joelle at the door, presses her signature muddy British-Columbian apple juice, and holds forth about her Orals. Unknown to Notkin, Joelle locks herself in Notkin's blue-lacquered bathroom and freebases cocaine to the brink of a fatal overdose (defib paddles and priests, per scene 074), which lands her in Brigham & Women's and then Ennet House. The party is the novel's Notkin set-piece and the hinge of Joelle's collapse.