Searching for Sylvie Lee

Sunday, May 8

Ma is alone on Mother’s Day, unhappy and worried. Pa buys her a soy sauce chicken, which is his way of showing love. She recalls the early days of their relationship with something akin to sadness: They had been so happy then, but over the years, their love was crushed under the weight of their difficult lives.

This chapter also contains the transcript of a telephone call between Estelle and Sylvie. Estelle invites Sylvie to Venice with Filip. Sylvie is hesitant to travel with Grandma so near death, but Estelle pressures Sylvie into going.

Thursday, April 21

Lukas and Estelle take Sylvie out for drinks and amuse themselves by teaching her the unusual local curse words that she missed by spending her teenage years in the United States. They join a group of people who are dancing, and Lukas becomes jealous when a man compliments Sylvie. He kisses her hand and suggests they leave together. Although Sylvie thinks that Lukas and Estelle are a couple, she wants to say yes. Instead, she leaves the two there and goes home alone.

Back at the Tan’s, Jim surprises Sylvie. He has traveled to the Netherlands to speak to her. She leads him into Lukas’s apartment. His behavior is a mix of jealousy (is she seeing someone else?), anger (why is she refusing to speak to him?), and pleading: He wants Sylvie back. Although she is tempted to forgive him, she remembers why she left: Jim had an affair with one of his 16-year-old students and, when she confronted him, struck her. Sylvie had changed the locks and told him it was over. He grows violent again when she refuses to promise to keep his act of statutory rape out of the divorce proceedings, and Lukas only just rescues her from another assault. Jim leaves, insisting that their conversation “isn’t over.”

Sylvie recalls her college years. She had been driven and hardworking, which was necessary to succeed in the world of wealth and privilege that was New York City. She was always the scholarship kid in ill-fitting clothing, and by college, she was surrounded by an entirely new level of affluence. She’d been at the top of her class, but hadn’t been liked. Initially, she assumed that Jim was as poor as she was: He’d been fond of ripped jeans and other thrift-store clothing. She recalls her surprise at learning that his parents lived in a mansion and both came from generational wealth. She admits that she was drawn to his wealth, which made her oblivious to her to how selfish he was. What seemed like good listening skills and empathy were in fact a desire to be liked. It was Amy who first pointed this out, after Sylvie and Jim had gotten married. Sylvie had been offended at the time, but now admits that her sister was right.

Sylvie discovered Jim’s affair when she noticed a leopard-print thong in their laundry. She began checking his phone and installed tracking software on his electronic devices. She was horrified and livid when she realized that his affair was with a teenage student. Jim had initially been contrite when confronted, but became angry as he insisted that Sylvie was always working. He’d wanted a stand-in. Enraged that he thought that a 16-year-old could replace her, Sylvie lost her temper. When she suggested that his career was in trouble if anyone found out, he cursed at her, slapped her, and left. 

Sunday, May 8

Lukas’s grandparents come to visit, and Amy finds the encounter awkward. The group of people represent Dutch, Chinese, and American ancestry and customs, and they are unsure how to interact with one another. When Sylvie is brought up, Lukas becomes distressed, and when Amy suggests the organization Filip told her about, both Helena and Lukas react with angry shock: They are sure that Sylvie will turn up and think hiring an outside investigator is unnecessary.

Amy calls Karin, the organization’s leader, and arranges on her own for additional help. Karin visits while everyone is out and asks about Sylvie’s habits and daily routine, but Amy is not able to answer. Karin sets out with the dogs after Amy tells her that Sylvie is unable to swim. Amy realizes that Karin does not expect to find Sylvie alive; the woman is looking for her sister’s body.

Friday, April 22

It is the morning of Sylvie’s birthday trip to Venice, but Grandma seems so near death that Sylvie nearly cancels the vacation. It is her grandma who urges her to go celebrate. Grandma insists that she called Sylvie to the Netherlands not to watch her die, but so that she could see her one more time. Although still torn over the decision, Sylvie decides to go.

In Venice for the first time, Sylvie is entranced by the city’s beauty. She, Estelle, Filip, and Lukas wander the picturesque streets and eat Italian food, and although Sylvie protests because she cannot swim, they take a gondola ride. Estelle had promised that even the clumsiest of tourists do not capsize their gondolas, and that if Sylvie were to tumble into a canal, she was an expert swimmer and could save her. Sylvie does not fall into the water, and the ride is enjoyable, although it is full of multi-directional sexual tension, and Sylvie cannot quite tell whom everyone is flirting with.

After Sylvie’s birthday dinner, at which they bonded over their shared understanding of racism in both Europe and the United States, the group finds the Piazza San Marco completely flooded. With no other route back to their hotel, they must wade through the water. Lukas offers to carry Sylvie so that she does not ruin her shoes, but Filip swoops in and lifts her into the air before Lukas can pick her up. Sexual tension and jealousy are palpable.

The four friends attend a concert series where the performers are in period costume and the attendees are encouraged to wear Venetian masks. While Sylvie and Filip dance, Lukas pulls Sylvie into an alley and kisses her passionately. They only stop because they are interrupted by a mime trying to sell them roses. Moments later, Sylvie thinks that she sees a masked Jim among the partygoers. She tries to follow him, but he is swallowed by the crowd. Meanwhile, Lukas and Filip are arguing, and their verbal altercation devolves into a physical one as the fight transitions from the topic of “commercialized” artmaking to their shared interest in Sylvie. She is horror-struck that her presence caused such a falling out between two friends, but she hopes that Lukas will come to her room that night. He does not, but she does find a single rose in the morning. She runs into Lukas and Estelle at breakfast and is upset to realize that the two spent the night together. Estelle tells Sylvie that she should have joined them. Filip does not appear until after breakfast. They agree to make their way home.

Saturday, May 14

Two weeks have passed with no sign of Sylvie. Amy asks to accompany Karin on a search. Although family members are not typically permitted to do so, because it can be deeply distressing if a loved one’s body is found, Karin allows it. Their diver, Filip, will also be present. Karin explains that the dogs can help alert a search party to a body in the water because bodies emit gasses for many weeks after death, and these gases rise to the surface. Filip does not mention his connection to Sylvie, but seems genuinely upset at the prospect of finding her. The dogs do alert Karin to the presence of a body. A car seems to have careened off of the road and been submerged. Backup is called, and as a large crane lifts the vehicle from the water, Amy thinks that the woman inside could not possibly be her sister. Unfortunately, she realizes that she is wrong. Lukas appears, and although Amy expects support, he is enraged. He vehemently shouts that Amy should have left everything be.