Nora Goes Off Script

Leo Vance is a 40-year-old movie star. He is extremely handsome, has been named Sexiest Man Alive, and is “most famous for his smoldering stare” (7). He was cast in The Tea House as Nora’s ex-husband, a character named Trevor. Nora’s first impression of Leo is that he’s not as perfect and polished as she expected. Initially, she believes Leo is “entitled and rude and never says thank you” (32). At first, Nora doesn’t take Leo seriously. When he says he wants to stay at the tea house, she wonders why “a single man who wears makeup and plays make-believe for a living really needs a rest” (41).

Leo sees his acting career differently. When Arthur gets the part of Fagin in Oliver Twist, Leo warns that “[i]f you pretend for your job, eventually you’ll stop being anything at all. A non-person” (51). In many ways, this is what has happened to Leo. His celebrity has isolated him and made it difficult for him to form authentic connections. Nearly all the people in Leo’s life are “paid to live for [his] career” (83). Even his family didn’t tell Leo his mother was dying because they didn’t want to disrupt his film schedule. He tells Nora what a joy it is to go shopping; he relishes the simple pleasures of choosing his own sheets and bananas. In Laurel Ridge, Nora acts as “a counselor at Camp Normal Life” (224), teaching Leo how to grocery shop, run daily errands, and juggle the kids’ activities. Leo’s constant refrain is “What happens now?” (65). He lets Nora guide him and follows her every instruction.

Leo’s isolation has cultivated a naivety and innocence that Nora finds endearing. He takes an almost childlike joy in life in Laurel Ridge and is kind, gracious, and generous with his time and money. As the story progresses, Leo is sometimes clueless and misguided, but none of his actions are ill-intentioned. Even ghosting Nora and paying her off are meant to protect Nora and her family: He never considers threatening her marriage when he believes she and Ben are back together. He sees Nora’s life as too good to be true, something he “didn’t deserve to keep” (246). Just like Nora, Leo undergoes a character transformation arc in which he develops his self-esteem. In the end, he is confident enough to go after the life he wants, knowing that he deserves to be happy.

Ben Hamilton appears in the novel only through Nora’s memories and in one brief phone call. However, his character is essential to the plot’s action and an understanding of Nora and Leo’s relationship.

In college, Nora admits that “Ben was kind of a catch” (70). He came from an important family, attended prep school, and “moved through life like a knife through soft butter” (70). Ben was born into money, but his father mismanaged the family business until the Hamiltons were just “angry, entitled people with no money” (110) and few skills. However, Ben never stopped acting rich or expecting life to be easy for him. Eventually, he began to blame Nora for his failings; According to Ben, Nora was too close-minded to believe in his big ideas. In reality, he lacked the work ethic and skills to create anything on his own.

Ben’s self-centeredness also made him a poor father. He resented his children for the money they cost him, rarely helped around the house, and never visited Arthur and Bernadette after the divorce. When they all lived together, Ben was sometimes harsh with his children or promised them things he couldn’t deliver, leaving Nora to manage Arthur and Bernadette’s expectations and explain to them “what Daddy really meant when he said that mean thing” (73). He was particularly hard on Arthur, a gentle boy prone to embarrassing Ben in his sporting endeavors. In Nora’s words, Ben is a foil for Leo, who despite being a celebrity is down to earth and invested in the kids’ activities.

Arthur Hamilton is Nora’s oldest child. He is 10 at the start of the novel and is a subdued and soft-spoken boy. Arthur has little athletic talent, but he finds “a lifeline” (15) in the school play and falls in love with acting. Out of the whole family, Arthur takes his father’s leaving hardest, perhaps because he feels he has tried and failed to be good enough for Ben. Throughout the novel, there are clues that Arthur is still struggling with his father’s departure. He “hides his face” (20) when Leo asks Nora if Ben’s character can come back at the end of The Tea House, and he is hesitant when Nora tells him Leo is going to stay for the week.

However, when Leo takes an interest in Arthur and the school play, Arthur thrives under the attention. Nora notices after a rehearsal that “Arthur sits a little taller than usual, his quiet uncertainty morphing into quiet confidence” (89). When Leo leaves, Arthur feels abandoned again. The wound Leo had started to help heal is torn open again, and Arthur retaliates by telling Leo that Ben has returned. Arthur’s feelings of abandonment provide an important plot function, as his lie is the catalyst for Nora and Leo’s breakup, Nora’s writing of Sunrise, and the journey of personal growth on which Nora embarks.