53 pages • 1 hour read
Colleen HooverAll Your Perfects
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2018A 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
Wealth
Quinn has a complex relationship with wealth, as she was raised in an affluent community but isn’t wealthy herself. She emphasizes her mother Avril’s obsession with money throughout the novel, explaining, “Money is her priority when it comes to seeking out a soulmate. My stepfather didn’t win her over with his personality. He won her over with his beach house in Cape Cod” (35). Quinn further describes her mother as mercenary in her first marriage, saying, “She married my father when he was moderately wealthy, and as soon as they had my sister and me, she demanded he buy her a home in Old Greenwich, Connecticut” (36). She connects her mother’s desire for wealth and a lavish lifestyle to her coldness, both in her marriage and parenting style.
Quinn is quick to distance herself from Avril’s wants. For example, when Graham reads Quinn and Ethan’s wedding invitations, he points out that they frame the wedding venue as prestigious. Quinn “can feel the embarrassment in [her] cheeks” and hurriedly explains, “My mother’s doing. Sometimes it’s easier to just let her get her way than put up a fight” (50). When Graham asks if she’s from Old Greenwich, she thinks she “can hear the judgment in his voice” and quickly tells him, “I try very hard to separate myself from the dredges of high society” (50). Graham sense Quinn’s discomfort and reassures her that she’s more than she seems, which she takes as a compliment.
Quinn considers her financial independence from Avril a personal virtue, and she’s quick to shut down any suggestion that she ask her parents for help with the costs of surrogacy or private adoption. Before Quinn marries Graham, her mother insists that he sign a prenuptial agreement to protect Quinn’s potential assets. Quinn is resistant, because she “[knows] Graham isn’t marrying [her] for the money or property [her] stepfather may or may not leave [her] one day” (222). This contributes to the novel’s depiction of working/middle-class people as warm and kind (like Graham’s family) and wealthy people as cold and self-interested (like Quinn’s mother and her friends). Again, Quinn values self-reliance, explaining her financial sense and closeness with Graham’s family.
The Wedding Ring
The novel describes three rings: Quinn’s engagement ring from Ethan, Sasha’s engagement ring from Graham, and Quinn’s engagement ring from Graham. Quinn describes the ring she received from Ethan as “the most expensive one his father could afford,” and belatedly sees it as a sign that she’d “lost my voice. My opinions. Me” (52). She describes the ring Graham bought for Sasha as “significantly smaller” and “subtle,” but prefers it to her own. The contrast between the two rings reinforces the novel’s framing of wealth as superficial, a reflection of pride rather than true love.
The ring Graham presents to Quinn is “a delicate, thin gold band with no stones. It’s not a reflection of how much money Graham has or doesn’t have. It’s a reflection of how long he believes our love will last. An eternity” (212). According to the ring’s jeweler, “the wedding ring symbolizes an endless loop without a beginning, middle, or end”—one that Graham “didn’t want to break up […] with diamonds” (212). Quinn loves the ring, as at the time of Graham’s proposal, it represented their hope for the future (regardless of wealth or children). Ironically, the novel itself is “broken up” by “diamonds” (cuts to the past and present), as “eternity” (a happy marriage) is easier said than done. But overall, the gold band illustrates how marriage is an ongoing process: Despite trials and tribulations, Quinn and Graham ultimately learn to put in the work to make their relationship work.
Flaws and Perfection
The titular motif of perfection is introduced in the first “Then” chapter: Quinn’s fortune cookie reads “If you only shine light on your flaws, all your perfects will dim” (8). This message rings true as the novel progresses. Quinn is so focused on perfection that she becomes obsessed with what she considers her “flaws”—chiefly her infertility. She’s only able to see what she lacks (children), and because of this, fails to recognize the “perfects” she already has. Quinn’s preoccupation with perfection is evident when she asks an elderly couple about the secret to a “perfect marriage”—even then, the couple corrects her, telling her that “No marriage is perfect” (200). Despite this advice, Quinn still evaluates her relationship in these terms: “There is no doubt in my mind that Graham and I used to be perfect for each other. But just because we used to be perfect for each other doesn’t mean we’re perfect together now” (200). The words “perfect” and “perfection” appear 88 times in the novel, illustrating the emphasis Quinn places on perfection as an achievable goal. By the end of the novel, Quinn realizes that this “goal” is damaging herself and her relationship. She ultimately focuses on personal goals (traveling and writing) and tries to draw strength from her past struggles (acknowledging her efforts to conceive a child, rather than seeing them as a source of shame and guilt).
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By Colleen Hoover
