49 pages • 1 hour read
Jenna LevineMy Roommate Is a Vampire
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary
Cassie Greenberg, a financially struggling artist, is being evicted from her apartment. She sees an advertisement on Craigslist for a room to rent for only $200 per month, in an area in Lincoln Park where rooms usually cost at least $1500 a month. She thinks there must be something horribly wrong with the apartment or the person renting it out. There are no photos with the ad, either. Sam, her best friend, offers to help her negotiate a month-to-month lease, as he’s a lawyer. Cassie declines to borrow money from Sam, and is also glad Sam and his husband Scott have a tiny condo with no room for her to move in with them, since she wants them to have their space as newlyweds. She also refuses to move in with Sam’s sister Amelia because she thinks Amelia judges her. She assures Sam she’ll be okay.
At her afternoon job at the library, Cassie works in the children’s department. Her other part-time job is at Gossamer’s, a hipster-style coffee shop that mostly caters to businesspeople. She prefers her job at the library because she gets to help children with art projects. After completing her MFA in visual art, she’s struggled to find a full-time job with her degree. At the library, she emails the person who posted the ad to inquire about the room. The person introduces himself as Frederick J. Fitzwilliam, a name Cassie finds ridiculously antiquated.
Frederick tells her the room is still available, and Cassie asks for photos. When he sends some, Cassie is shocked by how beautiful the apartment is, as it is decorated with expensive-looking, though dated, furniture, art, and appliances. She asks Frederick if she can see the apartment the next evening, and he agrees.
After work, Sam comes over and helps Cassie pack. He searches for Frederick J. Fitzwilliam online, but they can find no proof of his existence. This makes them both nervous, and Sam says he could probably find space to have Cassie stay with him and Scott until she finds something more permanent.
Chapter 2 Summary
The chapter opens with Frederick’s to-do list, which includes buying decoy food before Cassie arrives.
Cassie arrives outside Frederick’s apartment in Lincoln Park. Sam waits for her outside. Frederick answers the door, and Cassie is shocked by how handsome he is: He appears like a romance hero in a three-piece suit. He inadvertently offends her by commenting on her paint-covered t-shirt and jeans, which are much more casual than his attire. Cassie is still shocked by how dated yet expensive the room looks, with much of the furnishings being darkly-colored, made of velvet, or Victorian.
Cassie checks her phone to see worried messages from Sam, and she confirms that Frederick is not dangerous, just weird. Frederick begins the tour of the apartment, and Cassie asks why he set the rent price so low. Frederick seems surprised, as he did not know he should have charged more money. He mentions Reginald, a friend who helped him with the advertisement. He admits it was a mistake but promises to keep the price at $200 for her.
Frederick then asks if Cassie would be comfortable moving in if she was not allowed to go into his bedroom or into the hallway closet. Cassie jokes about him having dead bodies in there, which shocks Frederick. He tells her that he has an embarrassing hobby that he does not want revealed. He also shares that because of his work, he sleeps during the day and only comes out at night. Cassie agrees that she could live with those things, and they continue the apartment tour.
Chapter 3 Summary
The chapter opens with a text exchange between Frederick and Reginald Cleaves. Frederick chides Reginald for his typo in setting the rent price and informs him that Cassie will be moving in. Frederick is concerned, because Cassie is a woman and a bit strange, and he finds her smile distracting, but he acknowledges that he needs help. Reginald tells Frederick that he won’t be tempted to eat or have sex with Cassie if she’s strange, which frustrates Frederick’s sense of propriety.
When Cassie moves in, Frederick is nowhere to be found. She finds a note from him in the kitchen, welcoming her and giving her instructions for some of the appliances and other things in the apartment. When she goes into her bedroom, she finds another note and a welcome gift of kumquats. She is touched by Frederick’s thoughtfulness, but is horrified by the decor in her room. She writes Frederick a note thanking him and asking if she can hang some of her own art the next day. Cassie wants to display her project of seascapes that she constructed out of detritus left on the beach near Lake Michigan.
Hungry, Cassie goes to the kitchen to make some food. She looks for pots and pans, but cannot find any. Frederick startles her and tells her nervously that he’s having his pots and pans repaired, but Cassie sees through his lie. Frederick promises to get pots and pans for her after admitting he never cooks for himself.
Chapter 4 Summary
The chapter opens with texts between Frederick and Reginald. Frederick asks Reginald where to find cooking materials in the 21st century, and Reginald offers to help him get pots and pans.
Cassie goes to work at Gossamer’s. A strange customer comes in and orders an expensive coffee he doesn’t drink while staring at Cassie, which makes her feel uncomfortable. The customer leaves after announcing he must meet a friend at Crate and Barrel, hinting that this man is Reginald. Frederick texts Cassie to ask if she eats sauce and how many saucepans he should get. Cassie finds his texting style funny and thinks he is joking about not knowing what “lol” means.
When Cassie gets home, there’s a note from Frederick accompanying a massive amount of pots and pans that look incredibly expensive. Frederick’s note also says that he wants to see Cassie’s art once she hangs it in her room, which makes her smile. She writes a note thanking Frederick and offering to cook for him, though she can only make a few things. She then goes to shower.
Afterwards, she wraps a towel around herself and opens the bathroom door. She crashes into a shirtless Frederick. Cassie finds Frederick’s body attractive, but she notices that he avoids looking at her before apologizing and returning to his bedroom. In her own room, Cassie fixes her uneven haircut.
Chapters 1-4 Analysis
The opening chapters of the novel establish the characterizations of the key characters, especially Cassie and Frederick. Cassie’s independent nature is immediately clear in her conversation with Sam about finding somewhere to live. She’s naturally apprehensive about the low price of Frederick’s available room, but she’s resolute in her refusal to take any money from Sam: “‘If I change my mind about a loan, you’ll be the first to know,’ I said. But we both knew I never would” (6). Cassie craves the ability to solve her own problems; she cannot pay her rent, so she has to find somewhere else to live, but she is determined to remain independent while doing so.
Cassie’s independence plays an important role in the theme of The Importance of Art and Pursuing One’s Passion. Her artistic works are unorthodox, even to the broader art community. Her artistic praxis centers on creating art out of unusual things and subverting traditional artistic notions and theories, though she acknowledges that this has made it difficult to find a teaching job: “[M]y artistic vision and my skill set were too niche to appeal to most school districts hiring art teachers” (10). She understands that her art and her views about art are not mainstream and that this divergence from cultural norms are holding her back. However, she still continues to make art that matches her personal aesthetic, illustrating her artistic independence.
When Cassie first meets Frederick, their eventual romantic relationship is immediately foreshadowed. She finds him attractive, but her attraction to him also foreshadows his true identity. She describes him as having “this ridiculously thick, dark hair that fell rakishly across his forehead like he’d sprung fully formed out of a period drama […] Or like he was the hero from the last historical romance novel I’d read” (22). The specific details she notes all relate specifically to the time period (the 1700s) and the place (England) that Frederick is originally from. She does not immediately catch on to the truth of his vampirism, but part of her mind begins to piece together the anomalies within him.
Levine also uses foreshadowing about Frederick’s identity before Cassie inquires about the available room. She opens her computer and notes, “I scrolled through my inbox—an ad for a two-for-one sale at Shoe Pavilion; a headline from the Chicago Tribune about a bizarre string of local blood bank break-ins—and then started typing” (8). The news story about the blood bank robberies hint at robberies that were likely committed by Frederick or Reginald. Levine thus leaves visible clues about Frederick’s vampirism for the reader to pick up on, though for the first few chapters Cassie remains oblivious.
The Challenges of Adapting to Different Lifestyles emerges thematically when Cassie tours and then moves into the apartment with Frederick. Cassie feels distaste for Frederick’s decorating style, thinking, “people with money often had terrible taste” (26). Frederick’s lifestyle is entirely informed by both his vampirism and the century he spent in a coma. His furniture looks dated because it is dated. Cassie is emblematic of modern times, with her modern approach to art and ease in the 21st century, while Frederick is emblematic of the past that he still feels trapped in. As their relationship deepens, they will both learn more about each other’s eras and about each other.
