65 pages • 2 hours read
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
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Chapters 54-71Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death by suicide, graphic violence, illness, death, and mental illness.
Chapter 54 Summary
Harry gathers supplies, steals food, and proceeds to the armory for a weapon, where he incapacitates a friendly sergeant to gain access. He picks the lock and enters. Inside, Vincent Rankis is waiting for him. Harry grabs a revolver to shoot himself and be reborn. Before he can pull the trigger, however, he is struck by a Taser and loses consciousness.
Chapter 55 Summary
Harry awakens in a padded cell, restrained and connected to an IV drip. Vincent sits with him, expressing sadness over the situation and then demands Harry reveal his point of origin—his place and date of birth. Vincent explains that he needs this information as leverage to prevent Harry from revealing Vincent’s plans. Because Harry is (chronologically) older than Vincent, he deduces that Vincent must have an older accomplice. When Harry refuses to talk, Vincent threatens him with torture, giving him one day to reconsider.
Chapter 56 Summary
The next day, Harry pulls out his IV to lure guards into his cell and attempts to manipulate them with threats. A torturer arrives and begins a session of chemical and psychological torment. Later, one of the men he threatened, a sergeant, secretly passes him rat poison.
Harry ingests the poison, causing his organs to fail.
