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.
Symbols & Motifs
Nina’s Planner
Nina’s planner represents her compulsion to structure her life and avoid unpredictability. Planning her activities, meals, and to-do list provides her with a way to manage her time and exert some measure of control over the events in her life. Because the planner contains her goals and aspirations, it also represents her hopes and wishes for the future, and even the smallest details can be interpreted as effects of her deeper concerns and experiences. Frequently, the entries contain resolutions to exercise more or drink more water, but when she becomes interested in Tom, several notes reference the need to improve her housekeeping and personal hygiene, indicating her desire for physical intimacy. The graphics add a whimsical note that complements the narratives humorous tone. For example, the continuing notes to buy cat food become increasingly pointed, which suggests that Nina has been distracted from small, daily tasks by the larger events in her life.
Nina’s Bookshelves
Nina’s tidy and very full bookshelves represent her love of books and illustrate her tendency to insulate herself from outside stressors. In fact, they form a literal wall between her and the outside world in addition to offering an emotional and psychological escape from reality. She has created a cozy reading nook that allows her to immerse herself in the imaginative landscapes of literature; in this place, Nina can be completely safe, comfortable, and accepted. Her tendency to collect signed or significant editions of books, without any intention of resale, also suggests that for her, book hold an intrinsic worth based on sentimental attachment rather than retail value. It is also symbolically significant that Nina loves books and Tom makes bookshelves, for these two interests serve as an indication of the couple’s romantic compatibility.
The Trans Am
The Pontiac Trans Am that William Reynolds leaves Nina in his will provides a tangible symbol of their connection, and Nina’s eventual acceptance of the car signals her acknowledgement of this relationship. The classic make of the car, which makes Nina think of the character of K.I.T.T. in the popular TV series Knight Rider, confirms that she and William valued similar things. The car also holds the letters that William wrote but never delivered to his children and grandchildren, and as Nina takes it upon herself to deliver the letters and get to know her family better, she becomes more thoroughly integrated into the family, for she becomes the means by which William’s descendants come to know his final thoughts and wishes. The car also holds the ledger for the savings account that William kept in Nina’s name. Although the balance is about half of what he left to his other children, the money becomes a means by which Nina can realize her dreams for her future: to travel and to support the bookstore. When she learns how to drive a manual transmission and drives the car home, she executes her father’s final advice to be brave and refuse to remain limited by fear. As Lydia notes, Nina receives a car while the rest of William’s descendants only receive money, and this difference implies William’s particular desire to connect with the daughter he never had the opportunity to meet.
