My Beloved World: Chapter 28 Summary & Analysis

A few weeks after Sonia’s dinner with Fran, George Pavia and Dave tell Sonia she was elected to partner—but they see she wants to be a judge, suspect she’ll end up on the Supreme Court, and ask that she just stay with the firm until she becomes a judge. It’s odd to offer someone partnership if they’re going to move on, but Sonia is mortified—she’s never voiced her desire to be a judge. Fran dies the following spring. Sonia is devastated and is reminded of her own mortality. Sonia tells the reader that diabetes always lurks in her mind, even now that medical advancements have caught up. That doesn’t stop her from living like she might die any time.

One day at the end of June, Sonia and friends celebrate her birthday in Sonia’s backyard. Exhausted, Sonia goes to lie down. She feels light-headed and can’t move. As she pulls herself off the bed, Theresa appears. Sonia can’t tell what Theresa is saying, but Theresa has a plate of cake. Sonia smashes the cake into her mouth and explains when she recovers that she experienced a sugar low. Some of her friends are vaguely aware that Sonia is diabetic, but most thought she was drunk. Though Sonia doesn’t hide it on purpose, it’s a habit to hide it and she doesn’t want to seem vulnerable—and as a kid, disabilities were private. As a teen, she had to hide that she carried needles due to the prevalence of heroin.

In college, diabetes seemed like a nonissue. Sonia stopped going to Jacobi Medical Center, so she doesn’t discover treatment advances until much later. She managed by eating well and managing how she felt, though her changing adult body made this difficult. The exercise at Princeton caused her blood sugar levels to drop instantly, and she struggled to wake up most mornings. Throughout most of her adult life, Sonia follows the same regimen she did as a child. Finally, at 30, she seeks a specialist and begins a new regimen.

Keeping track of her sugar levels means she’ll live a normal lifespan, but things can still change in an instant like at the party. Another time, Sonia passes out in a hotel room in Italy. Alessandro forces the concierge to open the door and gets her to the hospital. Every time a crisis hits, Sonia notices that friends save her. She decides after the Italy incident to be open about her diabetes. A plus side to this is that now, she can show diabetic children they can be judges. Sonia doesn’t tell Mami about these close calls until this book is published, and Junior tries to tell Mami that this is because she always reacts poorly when Sonia tells her anything.

Sonia says that her secrecy and self-reliance begins and ends with Mami. Sonia is a great counselor to her friends, but she never shares her own struggles. Sonia doesn’t begin to evaluate this until she’s at the DA’s office and decides to work on self-improvement. The best indicator of her success, she says, is in her relationship with Mami. For years, she thought of Mami as cold and unapproachable, but this is because she knew nothing about Mami. Finally, when Sonia confesses that she feels distant from Mami, Mami asks for forgiveness—she didn’t grow up seeing kindness and empathy. As Sonia struggles to open up to Mami, she remembers Mami sponging her on hot nights. And as Sonia tries, Mami tries too, ultimately becoming more affectionate and demonstrative.

A friend helps Sonia develop her own sense of style and upgrade her wardrobe. Sonia dates, but nothing sticks, and her friends are always there for her. To help herself heal from heartache, Sonia takes salsa lessons, learns to swim, and during her first term on the Supreme Court, she learns to throw a baseball. Most consequentially, Sonia quits smoking after years of trying—seeing Kiley pretend to smoke pushes her over the edge. She figures she can’t be a judge and call recess to smoke, though she does fantasize about a final cigarette on her deathbed, like Abuelita. One day, as Sonia drives a Ferrari racecar, she remembers her past and sees Abuelita’s smile.