46 pages • 1 hour read
Abbi WaxmanThe Bookish Life of Nina Hill
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
Although Nina is nearly 30, it bears many hallmarks of a coming-of-age or new adult novel. Identify at least three different ways in which Nina metaphorically “comes of age” and steps into a more adult role in life.
Analyze The Bookish Life of Nina Hill as a romance, specifically a romantic comedy. What about the events, tone, or character arcs conform to the conventions of the romance genre? What romantic plot tropes are employed, and in what ways does the author deviate from standard romance conventions?
Analyze the metafictional moments in which Waxman breaks the fourth wall and the narrator addresses the reader directly. How does this narrative device affect the overall tone of the novel? Does the omniscient narrator ridicule or respect the protagonist? Use specific examples from the text to support your interpretation.
Analyze the character interactions that take place during the trivia-themed scenes. What cultural commentary is implied in these interactions, and how do the scenes illustrate the protagonist’s inner conflicts and flaws? Support your argument with specific examples from the text.
Examine at least three other female characters in the novel and explain how their personalities either contrast directly with Nina’s or provide key insights into her character. In what ways do these relationships address the larger themes about forging personal connections?
Discuss Nina’s anxiety and her struggle to overcome the social challenges it creates for her. What role does her anxiety play in the novel, and how does the author personify it and give it a life of its own?
How does the novel implicitly and explicitly compare biological connections to other personal connections?
Discuss how the author uses details about the city of Los Angeles as cultural context for the novel’s events. What implicit social commentary does Waxman make about the neighborhood of Larchmont, and how do her incidental discussions about Los Angeles turn the city into a character in its own right?
Contrast Nina’s fixation on fictional worlds with her new forays into the “real” social complexities that surround her. What value does the narrator place on developing an imaginative inner life to help navigate the real world? Support your argument with evidence from the text.
Read another Waxman novel and compare the dominant themes, characters, narrative styles, and implicit messages of the two books. What conclusions can you draw from any similarities, and what might this suggest about Waxman’s personal interests as an author?
