The Bonesetter’s Daughter: Part One: Chapter Five Summary & Analysis

Ruth holds LuLing’s hand as she walks her back to the hospital parking garage. She tries to wrap her head around her mother’s diagnosis: dementia. Dr. Huey told Ruth that the results of LuLing’s MRI were consistent with Alzheimer’s and that the disease had likely begun to progress years ago. LuLing jokingly asks Ruth if the doctor said she’d die soon. Ruth struggles to explain the diagnosis in a way LuLing will understand. When Ruth cautiously tells her mother the doctor is concerned about her memory, LuLing scoffs, claiming she can remember many things. 

This was three months ago. Since then, LuLing has come for dinner at Ruth and Art’s house almost every night. Tonight, LuLing nearly spits out the salmon Ruth prepared, claiming it’s too salty. Dory tells LuLing that Ruth didn’t add any salt to the salmon, but Fia kicks her underneath the table. Since Dr. Huey’s diagnosis, Ruth sees what she’d previously regarded to be her mother’s stubborn personality in an entirely new light and realizes signs of her worsening dementia had been there all along.

Fia asks Art if they can get a new cat, mentioning her friend Alice’s new Himalayan. Art says maybe. Ruth remains silent but feels betrayed: she’d already told him she wasn’t ready to get a new cat so soon after Fu-Fu’s death. Suddenly, LuLing interjects to recall when she drove to Himalaya, which confuses the whole table. It’s clear that simple word association prompted LuLing to tell this story, but Ruth wonders where LuLing’s delusion about driving to Himalaya came from. Finally, she realizes the connection and mentions the documentary about Tibet she and her mother watched last week.  LuLing loses her temper, upset by everyone insinuating that she’s crazy.

After Fia and Dory retreat to their bedroom to do homework and LuLing leaves to use the bathroom, Ruth confronts Art to voice her concerns about LuLing’s worsened condition and her hesitation to leave her alone when they go to Hawaii. Art asks Ruth what she—not they—plan to do about it. Since the Full Moon Festival dinner, it’s become more evident to Ruth how she and Art have failed to become a family, though she knows she can’t blame Art, who had been upfront from the beginning about not wanting to marry again. Art suggests that Ruth hire someone to keep tabs on LuLing while she’s away and call Meals on Wheels to deliver food to her. He continues, suggesting that Ruth begin the meal delivery service right away—not that LuLing isn’t welcome for dinner, of course.

LuLing rejects the idea of hiring a housekeeper when Ruth mentions it to her later on, complaining about the cost. Ruth lies, claiming the service is a free training program that gives immigrants work experience. She feels guilty when LuLing immediately accepts this explanation and agrees to the arrangement. However, the housekeeper quits in response to LuLing’s constant complaining. Ruth begins to check on LuLing a few times a week while she desperately tries to find a replacement. She makes excuses about being in town for a work assignment, and LuLing accuses her of putting work before family.

The housekeepers continue to quit. Ruth grows increasingly tired and irritable, and she finally tells Art to go to Hawaii without her. She tries to work in the empty house but feels anxious and unsettled. Gideon calls to tell her that the Internet Spirituality author fired her. Ruth feels relieved, though she knows she should be angry. Gideon expresses concern about her being so careless lately.

Later that evening, when Ruth calls LuLing to remind her that she’ll be picking her up to go to dinner at Fountain Court, LuLing doesn’t answer the phone. After more unanswered phone calls, Ruth drives to her mother’s house, anxiously imagining the worst-case scenarios for LuLing’s silence. When Ruth arrives, LuLing is nowhere in sight. An annoyed Francine explains that LuLing stormed out of the house dressed in pajamas sometime before. 

Ruth calls the police, but LuLing returns before the officer finishes his report. Ruth spends the night at LuLing’s. She inspects the place more closely and is horrified at the disarray. Ruth calls Art in Hawaii but gets no answer. She calls GaoLing, who refuses to believe the Alzheimer’s diagnosis, insisting that LuLing will get better if she continues to take ginseng. Even though GaoLing downplays the seriousness of LuLing’s condition, Ruth is relieved when she offers to come over and watch LuLing for her.