47 pages • 1-hour read
Three Days in June
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Part 2Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2: “D-Day”
Part 2, Pages 65-82 Summary
On the morning of the wedding, Debbie calls Max. She does not want him to wear the sports coat he had on yesterday to the ceremony today and offers to take him suit shopping. Hurriedly, Gail whispers that this will give them one last opportunity to talk her out of marrying Kenneth, and Max agrees to go. Gail will accompany them. Gail and Max bicker about Debbie: Max feels that Gail is interfering in matters that are ultimately up to Debbie, and Gail is irked that Max is so difficult to reason with: She feels that he has always been this way, and spending so much time with him and having him in her home is frustrating. Gail wonders if Debbie wants Max to purchase a new suit because she feels that her family is too shabby in comparison to Kenneth’s, and she has a moment of resentment for Kenneth’s family. She then recalls meeting Max’s family for the first time: They never warmed to her, which she now acknowledges was somewhat justified.
At the store, Max tries on a series of suits while Gail tries to talk to Debbie. She gently tells her daughter that marriage is permanent, but Debbie fires back that it doesn’t have to be and that Gail, of all people, should know that. The difference in how they approach marriage stuns Gail. Debbie adds that she doesn’t know what exactly went wrong in her parents’ relationship but that she knows enough that she learned not to “hold grudges.” Gail is once again stunned by this, and after Max buys his suit, she tries to clarify: It was Gail who made the “stupid mistake” in their marriage, not Max.
They do not discuss the matter further, and Gail ruminates on it when she and Max get home. Max wants her to alter his suit, and she is frustrated that he didn’t just buy one that fits better. The cat seems comfortable, and as it crunches away on its kibble, Max offers to make lunch for Gail. She is genuinely touched and thanks him. Debbie doesn’t call. Gail knows that she is having a sushi lunch with Sophie and is momentarily envious.
Part 2, Pages 82-109 Summary
It is time to get dressed for the ceremony. Looking at herself in the mirror, Gail thinks that she looks old. She reflects that no one warns women that as they age, they’ll have good days and bad days, days with smooth skin and days with wrinkles. Her appearance bothers her. She and Max pick up her mother and proceed to the church. The wedding has gotten bigger than it was supposed to be, and the reception will be held at Sophie and Rupert’s club. Because they are footing the bill, they made a series of changes to the wedding plans. It will now be a slightly fancier affair. Debbie looks beautiful, and both of her parents tear up. Gail does think, however, that the bridesmaids’ dresses could have matched better, but she doesn’t comment on it.
The ceremony is a blur. To avoid crying, Gail summons up difficult family memories from Debbie’s frustrating teenage years. She is not even aware of the vows being said, and the wedding is quickly over. She and Max head to the reception early to add their contribution to the photo board: pictures of Debbie as a baby, young girl, and adult. The club where the reception is held is a lavish space, and both Max and Gail comment on how expensive everything looks.
Jared, Kenneth’s uncle, seats himself next to Gail at dinner, explaining that Kenneth banished his sister, Elizabeth, from his table and that the maid of honor is supposed to sit by the best man. Gail does not understand why Kenneth picked his uncle rather than his father or a friend to be the best man, but Jared explains that the two have always been close. Sophie comes over to discuss the toast schedule: Jared is to speak about Debbie, followed by Elizabeth speaking about Kenneth. Elizabeth refuses, and Max offers to make the parents’ toast after Jared.
Gail finds the dinner conversation awkward and stilted and notices how disordered many of the toasts feel. No one knows when to speak, and Gail is a little embarrassed. Elizabeth does end up making a nice toast, and Gail observes that Sophie is pleased. She can tell, however, that there is much about the wedding that does not please Sophie. She would have preferred a more opulent affair. She even speaks disparagingly about the cake, a many-tiered concoction that, although delicious, Gail characterizes as over the top. Jared pulls Gail aside to ask her out, but she tells him that she is not interested. The crowds seem to be dispersing, and both Gail and Max look for Debbie to say goodbye but cannot find her. When they arrive home, Max comments on how nice the wedding was. Gail thinks that it felt “flat.”
Gail greets the cat, and then she and Max settle down to have a drink and talk. Gail still worries that Kenneth is “guilty” of cheating, and Max gets angry. He tells her that it’s likely that Kenneth did cheat but that Debbie forgave him, and that is her prerogative. He insists that Gail, “of all people” (109), should value forgiveness and goes to bed angry.
Part 2 Analysis
The author continues to thematically develop The Complexities of Familial Relationships in Part 2. These complexities begin with a series of spats between Max and Gail that highlight the differences between the two. Max continues to take issue with Gail’s overprotective behavior toward Debbie and adamantly asserts that, as an adult, Debbie is allowed to make her own choices even if they disagree with them. The gulf between the two is particularly obvious during this argument, and it is evident that they approach parenting and human relationships in general differently. By the end of Part 2, Max accuses Gail of being incapable of forgiveness, and their differences appear even greater: The author does not yet reveal the “mistake” that Max forgave Gail for, but in light of the fact that Gail once committed a marital “sin” so great that it required a hefty dose of forgiveness, Gail’s behavior toward Kenneth is ironic.
The author explores this disconnect not only through Gail and Max’s fight but also through Debbie’s part in their broader conversations about marriage and cheating. Debbie angrily accuses Gail of not properly understanding that marriage isn’t necessarily permanent and even more angrily explains to her mother that she is not going to repeat Gail’s mistakes. It is clear that Debbie thinks that Max once did something terrible and that Gail refused to forgive him. Gail gently tries to explain to Debbie that she has the story wrong, but the entire episode is telling and speaks to Tyler’s commitment to realistic situations in her novels: At multiple points in this narrative, the characters make decisions based on the scant pieces of information they have. In families, Tyler suggests, individuals are not always privy to one another’s motivations, which can itself deepen existing rifts. Debbie has based her entire view of relationships on details that she misconstrued. While this isn’t optimal because it colors her perception toward her father, the author’s broader point here is to show that her characters have had to do the best they could with the information they had on hand.
Tyler continues to thematically explore The Nuances of Aging during this section of the novel. Gail, in particular, confronts the physical signs of aging and is upset by what she sees when she looks in the mirror:
In my bathroom mirror, I looked old. People don’t warn you ahead of time that some days your face will be netted with wrinkles and other days smooth. Today I was wrinkly. My eyes were quirked into triangles and so many lines crossed my forehead that it resembled a sheet of ruled paper (82).
Although she is not someone overly invested in beauty and her appearance—evident in her hesitancy toward beauty salons in Part 1—she wants to look nice on her daughter’s wedding day and feels bad that she will pale in comparison to Kenneth’s stylish mother. Additionally, Gail observes during this scene that society does not treat men as harshly as they age. She reflects that men in Max’s age group can still be considered handsome and even desirable. The double standard inherent in that gendered difference bothers Gail, and it becomes yet another aspect of the aging process that she must contend with as she navigates the transition into older age throughout the narrative.
Tyler also emphasizes Gail’s social difficulties in Part 2, which contributes to The Impact of Personal Crises on Self-Perception. The author develops this theme primarily through the gulf between Kenneth’s and Debbie’s families. Kenneth’s family is both more affluent and more stylish than Gail and Max are, and Gail keenly feels the difference between them. In some ways, she is much more attuned to such social nuances than Max, who had planned to wear an ill-fitting outfit to the wedding. However, this awareness inhibits Gail’s ability to connect with those around her. When Debbie asks Max to find a more suitable clothing option, he readily agrees without feeling judged. Gail, on the other hand, cannot help but compare herself to Sophie and thus finds little to talk about with Kenneth’s family. Although she worries that they are judging her, she engages in a near-constant stream of internal criticism about Kenneth’s family throughout the entirety of the celebrations. However, she notes with pride that she keeps her judgment to herself. She is still mindful of having been labeled tactless and reflects at multiple points during the wedding that her willingness to remain silent about her opinions is a sign that she is quite tactful.
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