53 pages • 1 hour read
Colleen HooverWithout Merit
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Authorial Context: Colleen Hoover
Born in Sulphur Springs, Texas, where Without Merit takes place, Colleen Hoover is familiar with complicated family relationships. Her mother divorced her physically abusive father and later remarried a dairy farmer when Hoover was two. The family struggled financially, but Hoover’s mother stressed the importance of education. Both mother and daughter attended Texas A&M University, simultaneously achieving their degrees in social work. Hoover worked as a counselor in the Women, Infants, and Children federal program while starting a family and writing her first few novels on a borrowed laptop. After self-publishing her first book series, Hoover gained popularity on various social media platforms, especially TikTok. Her giant fanbase enabled Hoover to negotiate more favorable publishing contracts with larger publishing houses.
Hoover’s personal and professional experiences influence the literary elements in her writing. Her dynamic, complex characters address serious themes like alcohol and drug abuse, sexual abuse, mental illness, trauma, suicide, and infidelity. Although Without Merit is categorized as a contemporary romance novel, Sagan and Merit’s attraction to each other hardly influences the plot’s direction. Hoover is known for resisting being branded in one specific genre, writing suspense and thriller novels in addition to YA and adult romance. She assisted in developing new adult fiction, a genre that focuses on characters in their teens and twenties navigating late adolescence and early adulthood. Merit demonstrates this growth trajectory as she becomes more mature, empathetic, and emotionally responsible throughout the novel.
Hoover makes a cameo appearance in Without Merit when Sagan takes Merit to a small bookstore. This scene references Hoover’s real-life bookstore, The Bookworm Box, a charitable bookstore that raises money for organizations fostering literary skills and nurturing a love of reading. The store clerk, who is in her “late thirties and her frizzy hair is piled into a knot on top of her head” (233) is a direct reference to the author herself.
Political Context: The Syrian Civil War
The Syrian political crisis began in March 2011 when a group of teenagers graffitied the words “Your turn doctor” on a high school wall, suggesting the country’s dictator should step down. (Sagan sports a tattoo with these exact words.) The teenagers were arrested and tortured for this act, sparking countrywide outrage and protests known as the Arab Spring. In response, Syrian leadership and military violently suppressed civilians, escalating the crisis into a civil war.
Millions of Syrians fled their homes and sought refuge in other countries. The Syrian refugee crisis quickly grew to become the worst humanitarian crisis in the world in the years following the Syrian civil war, and it continues to affect millions of Syrians at the time of this guide’s publication (2023). Nearly 250,000 Syrians have died in the civil war, and thousands more have been killed in an attempt to escape the country. Additionally, the refugee camps lack necessities, such as food, clean water, adequate shelter, and medical care. Even when Syrians reach refugee camps, they struggle to survive due to poor living conditions.
Hoover highlights the strain the Syrian political crisis has placed on families, particularly those divided by the conflict, through Sagan’s character. Sagan loses communication with his parents at the onset of the Syrian political crisis after he flees to live with his American grandmother. He cannot find out whether his family is alive in Syria or in a refugee camp, and he quickly answers his phone anytime it rings. The tragedy that defines Sagan’s family affords him a unique perspective on Merit’s complicated family relationships. Desperate to reconnect with his family members, whom Sagan fears are likely dead, Sagan tells Merit, “your family isn’t so bad” (127). He believes forgiveness, not consequences, will help Merit overcome her anger and resentment.
Related Titles
By Colleen Hoover
