58 pages • 1 hour read
Natalie SueI Hope This Finds You Well
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2024A 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 1-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “This Could’ve Been an Email”
Content Warning: This section of the guide refers to the source text’s treatment of addiction and domestic violence.
In Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Jolene Smith is an administrative technician in the accounting department at a regional office of retailer Supershops Incorporated. Now in her eighth year at Supershops, Jolene finds her work boring and her co-workers unpleasant. On her 33rd birthday, she receives an email reminder about an upcoming meeting, which she assumes is a surprise birthday party.
The sender of the email, Rhonda Staples, is a woman nearing retirement age who sits in a cubicle only a few feet away from Jolene’s. Jolene sends an email thanking Rhonda for the reminder. As is her habit, Jolene ends the email with a rude postscript that she types in white font, making it invisible to the recipient. On her way to the meeting, Jolene passes Caitlin Joffrey, who has worked next to Jolene in a parallel role for three years. The two share a petty, adversarial relationship.
Arriving in the boardroom, Jolene finds her boss, Gregory Hall, waiting for her, accompanied by Cliff Redmond, a newly hired human resources (HR) analyst. Gregory shows a printout of an email Jolene sent to Caitlin a few days ago, including a rude postscript that Jolene forgot to white out. Gregory instructs Jolene to complete an anti-harassment course administered by Cliff; he adds that extra security software will be added to her personal computer.
Cliff wishes Jolene a happy birthday. Jolene notices that Cliff drew a doodle of a cat during the meeting.
Chapter 2 Summary: “Walk of Shame”
Returning to her cubicle, Jolene notices Caitlin gossiping with Garret, Gregory’s second-in-command. After introducing Cliff, Gregory leaves him to configure Jolene’s computer with the enhanced security software. Cliff tries to make small talk, but Jolene resists.
Jolene recalls her history at Supershops. When she first started working, she was optimistic and hoped to make friends. She soon became disillusioned with the superficial work environment and had a panic attack. Since then, she keeps mostly to herself, remaining wary and judgmental of her colleagues.
Chapter 3 Summary: “Birthday Party for One”
Jolene buys some wine on her way home, where she is greeted by her 12-year-old neighbor, Miley. Miley is desperate for attention after being neglected by her mother. Jolene brushes off Miley’s questions about her birthday plans.
Inside her messy apartment, Jolene recalls what led her to Calgary eight years prior. At the time, she was happy to escape her parents’ influence and live in relative anonymity. Over time, Jolene retreated into a reclusive lifestyle. Jolene is particularly concerned that people she meets might learn about the death of her best friend, Ellie, while the two were in high school. Although Ellie’s death was an accident, Jolene blames herself.
Tonight, Jolene uses a “creeper” Instagram account she created to see what people she used to know are doing. As she drinks, Jolene decides to update the account with her real name and photo, then searches for her coworkers’ accounts to follow. She soon receives a notification that Armin Habib, who works in her cubicle pod along with Rhonda and Caitlin, followed her back. Jolene and Armin’s mothers are both Iranian, a fact that Gregory once exploited for a diversity session that Jolene found distasteful. Caitlin also follows Jolene, and Jolene assesses Caitlin’s profile to be that of a “wannabe influencer.” Before passing out, Jolene accidentally likes one of Armin’s posts, then comments, “It’s my birthday and I’m lonely” (24).
Chapter 4 Summary: “Hangovers Are a WIP”
The next morning, a Saturday, Jolene wakes up on her couch with a hangover to see that Armin read but did not respond to her message. Moments later, she receives a video call from her parents. Following Ellie’s death, Jolene’s parents were ostracized in the small town where they lived. When Ellie moved to Calgary, they soon followed.
Jolene’s mother asks her about her work and social life. Jolene lies, pretending that she is about to be promoted. Jolene’s father also wishes her well, though the two are not very close. Refusing her mother’s offer to visit, Jolene reluctantly agrees to attend an upcoming lunch with her mother’s friends, known as “aunties,” a group of Persian women who are not necessarily related.
After the call, Jolene takes a bath and cries while listening to the song that was playing the day Ellie died.
Chapter 5 Summary: “Bcc Bcc’ident”
On Monday morning, Jolene arrives at her desk to find a donut and a friendly note from Cliff. Logging into her computer, she is surprised to see an unusually large number of emails. She reads an email exchange between Armin and Caitlin, in which Armin tells her about Jolene’s Instagram message and expresses his sympathy for her. Confused, Jolene assumes that the two of them sent the messages to her by accident.
Embarrassed, Jolene goes to the bathroom, where she cries and recalls an early experience at Supershops. During her first month at the company, she volunteered to bring drinks for a party. Uncertain what to bring, she brought soda, juice, and milk, which Rhonda and Garret found amusing. From that time onward, Jolene resolved to keep her distance from other people.
Returning to her desk, Jolene realizes that Cliff must have configured her computer as an administrator, allowing her to see everyone’s emails; she stumbles across a sexually explicit email to Gregory from a woman Jolene assumes to be his wife.
Chapter 6 Summary: “HR Stands for: Helpful Rarely”
Jolene makes her way to Cliff’s office, which is filled with pop culture decorations. She begins to tell him that she can see everyone’s emails, but he misunderstands her concerns and simply reassures her about the upcoming anti-harassment course. She refuses his invitation to go get pretzels together and pretends not to hear when he asks about her birthday.
Chapter 7 Summary: “Real Talk”
Returning to her desk, Jolene finds Rhonda watering Joey, a wilting fern that Armin pours Gatorade on when he thinks no one is watching.
Jolene follows along as Armin, Rhonda, and Caitlin message each other back and forth about her. Caitlin feels that Jolene is not being punished strongly enough for her rude email, and she encourages Armin to report her Instagram message to HR. Armin, who feels bad for Jolene, refuses.
In a separate private chat with Caitlin, Rhonda shares a rumor that there will be layoffs and assures Caitlin that Jolene would be laid off before her.
Chapter 8 Summary: “Aunt: Another Four-Letter Word”
After work, Jolene meets her mother and three “Persian aunties,” as she calls them, though only one of them is related to her, at an Iranian restaurant. Aunties Miriam, Parvin, and Roya proceed to question and criticize Jolene about her work and social life. With her mother’s support, Jolene implies that she is about to be promoted but admits that she struggles with dating. The aunties offer to help her find someone, and Jolene’s mom even tries to set her up with the waiter.
Chapter 9 Summary: “Conveyor Belt Artist”
Feeling anxious after dinner with the aunties, Jolene adds lots of junk food into her basket at the grocery store. As she checks out, Jolene is surprised to see that Cliff is next in line; he greets her warmly, and the two share a joke that Cliff is on an undercover HR mission to spy on her.
A few minutes later, as Jolene is walking home with her groceries, Cliff pulls up next to her and offers her a ride. Charmed by another joke, Jolene accepts. As he drives her home, Cliff points out that he lives only a block away from Jolene and offers to drive her to and from work so that she need not take the bus. Still wary of Cliff’s HR role, Jolene rejects his offer.
Chapters 1-9 Analysis
These chapters set up the major conventions of the text. Structurally, the novel consists of 50 named chapters, the titles of which typically offer tongue-in-cheek or punny commentary on their contents. For instance, “This Could’ve Been an Email,” the title of Chapter 1, reflects a common complaint in office culture that a particular meeting could’ve been avoided and replaced by a simple email. In terms of setting, this section establishes Jolene’s typically cramped workplace as a central location, along with her home. Plot wise, this section sees the main conflict set in motion as Jolene gains access to her colleagues’ digital communications through a technical error, setting the stage for her to take advantage of the information she gains while risking discovery.
This section also sees the introduction of several major characters. As protagonist and narrator, Jolene shares her deep-seated fears, insecurities, and disappointments with readers, as in the following passage:
And something breaks deep inside me, like my whole day, or my lifetime, is catching up with me at once. I blink through the prickle in my eyes. I know what life I’m supposed to live; I have Pinterest. Obviously, this isn’t it (20).
This passage exemplifies Jolene’s cynical outlook as the novel opens. As she deals with loneliness and unresolved trauma, Jolene turns to unhealthy coping mechanisms to soothe her pain, if only temporarily. Although her parents would like to help her, Jolene hides her true self and situation from them, not wanting to disappoint them further, which ties into Natalie Sue’s exploration of Trust and Authenticity in Parent-Child Relationships, showing how relationships can struggle where such qualities are lacking. Notably, Jolene isn’t the only one hurt by this outcome: At lunch with her Persian aunties, Jolene notes that her mother’s “knuckles are white from balling her hands into fists around her napkin” as the aunties question Jolene about her love life (52).
Cliff’s character is also introduced in this section, laying the groundwork for his relationship with Jolene. Jolene’s first impression of Cliff is a negative one, primarily based on stereotypical negative associations with human resources. However, she is puzzled by his cheerful attitude and his tendency to draw instead of taking notes. Cliff’s good nature is further underscored by his encouraging comments, his willingness to share food and rides with Jolene, and his enthusiasm for popular culture. Jolene is particularly surprised by Cliff’s willingness to share and enjoy jokes that, from her point of view, are too edgy for a sensitive HR analyst. Jolene’s confusion and concern about the apparent contradictions between Cliff the person and his role as an HR analyst sets the stage for her tentative, stop-and-go development of a friendship and eventual romance with him.
This section also opens Sue’s discussion of Alienation and Dehumanization in the Modern Workplace. As Jolene’s history at Supershops reveals, her relationships with her coworkers have only worsened over time. The fern nicknamed Joey, meanwhile, reveals the complex interactions between Jolene and her coworkers, as Armin poisons the plant to get back at Rhonda, whom Jolene resents for taking the plant from her desk. Meanwhile, Armin’s willingness to poison the plant in front of Jolene demonstrates the fact that she is all but invisible to him, as he has no fear that she will report what he is doing.
