48 pages • 1 hour read
Sarah AdamsPractice Makes Perfect
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Confidence and Individuality
Throughout the novel, Will helps Annie understand that the key to successful dating is displaying confidence and individuality. Annie seeks a “new woman” transformation like what Dick does to Jo in Funny Face, but Will has “never met anyone like her before—and it would be a damn shame for her to morph into some popular social construct of what a woman should be like on dates” (65). He already believes she’s worthy of attention and attraction as she is and intends to coax out the personality she’s spent her entire life tucking away.
In the first chapter, Annie almost backs out of her date because she is “a person who avoids attention at all costs” and can barely stomach being the sole focus of one man for the night (3). During the date, Annie can’t even manage to talk about flowers—which are the focus of her job—due to self-consciousness and shame, evidencing her extreme lack of self-confidence. In contrast, Will wows Annie on their first interaction of the novel, and she wonders what “it would be like to date a man like him? All charisma and confidence” (17). Though she has yet to discover that confidence and individuality are the keys to mutual attraction, Annie immediately takes notice of how these exact qualities stand out in Will.
Annie’s confidence is consistently negatively affected by her own sisters. When Emily and Madison show interest in Will, she internally releases her feelings for him, believing her “outgoing, gorgeous sisters have way more of a chance with him than [she] do[es]” (36). Their constant teasing feels more like belittlement when they call her “Sweet Annie” or “Angel Annie” and poke fun at her virginity and innocence, feeding into sexist stereotypes. The entire town has the same perception of Annie as well, making it an impossible reputation to escape. Annie’s confidence in her romantic, especially sexual, attractiveness is so low that when Will calls her sexy, she bursts into tears because she believes it is a demeaning joke. When she realizes he is serious, it means more to her than anything else because nothing has ever “made [her] feel quite so womanly as the word he just used to describe [her]” (127). At the age of 27, Annie feels like she is being viewed as a woman for the very first time, which is empowering.
Will’s dating lessons impart invaluable advice for Annie, including faking her confidence when she doesn’t truly feel it inside, and he admits that “if [he] waited until [he] felt confident to live [his] life and do the things [he] want[s] to do, [he]’d never live” (102). The statement impacts Annie’s perspective on her own insecurities and her approach to dating. Throughout the novel, Annie continues to gain the confidence to face her problems head on and pursue what she really desires, and Will plays an important role in helping Annie become the person she needs to be.
The Passivity of Excessive Niceness
In her attempts to maintain her excessively nice reputation, Annie lacks personal boundaries and becomes compliant with passivity. Annie’s romantic life suffers because she finds carrying a conversation very dangerous. She prefers solitude where she “can’t offend anyone” or “say the wrong thing” (6). Her fear of causing upset or receiving judgment hinders her ability to actively participate in many areas of her life. Annie doesn’t even stand up for herself when ditched by her date at the beginning of the novel, after which Will ironically says, “I think maybe you’re too nice” (17). If Will hadn’t stepped in to influence her date to pay and treat Annie with the respect she deserves, she would have allowed the ill treatment to spare her date the inconvenience or embarrassment, at her own expense.
Though Emily and Madison’s excessive, hurtful teasing is also at Annie’s expense, she also never speaks up against them. They laugh at the idea of Annie being with Will, claiming “he’d eat her alive” (38). Though Annie disagrees and is actually excited by the thought of a relationship with Will, she stays silent because “if [she] say[s] yes, [her] sisters will laugh and continue to point out all the obvious reasons we’re not right for each other” (39). The discussion would put Emily and Madison in an uncomfortable and confrontational situation with Annie, which she decides is better to avoid.
Annie has always been the comforter in her family because “it’s a role [she] chose when [she] was very young and [her] siblings were all falling apart and [she] didn’t quite understand why” (163). After their parents died, Annie made it her job to lessen her siblings’ pain. This included not only caring for their needs but also diminishing her own to “make sure that [she] never did anything to add to their worry” (163). As a result, Annie cannot express herself to others, and even if she could, she doesn’t feel comfortable doing so because she hasn’t ever done so.
Annie’s desire to please others extends even further with her desire to honor her late parents. Annie devotes her career to the memory of a mother she can’t remember. She doesn’t regret her kindness, as flowers are a shared passion between her and Charlotte, but Annie does break free of the passivity that comes with doing everything for others by getting a tattoo for herself of “something special to [her]. Just [her]” (152). Though her first idea is to get flowers, she realizes that would represent her mother more, and she instead chooses to get an illustration of a book, evidencing her love for reading.
The Impact of Childhood Experiences
Family has both obvious and subtle impacts on many characters in the novel. Annie’s parents died when she was too young to remember them, and her siblings never like to talk about their own memories. All Annie has to go on is the family photos and the occasional hearsay of the townspeople. Despite never seeing firsthand the relationship her parents had, Annie wholeheartedly believes it was “bursting-with-love” (4). She feels the same way about Amelia and Noah’s relationship, which she deems “similar to what her parents had. Sturdy, deep, and dependable” (32). This belief fuels Annie’s own desire for that same happy, all-consuming relationship with a perfect partner of her own.
Annie also spends ample time wondering what her parents would think of her life and what advice they’d give in her times of need. Annie’s flower shop, Charlotte’s Flowers, is named after her mother and devoted to their shared passion for flowers. Though she doesn’t remember her mom, Charlotte has great influence on the career path Annie chooses in adulthood. When Annie asks Mabel for advice when things get tough between her and Will, Mabel mentions that “Charlotte was all about living in the moment” and never thought “too far in the future about stuff” (276). Mabel’s interpretation of Charlotte does not fit the image Annie expected but instead is similar to Will himself. Freed from the worry that she won’t fulfill her parents’ expectations or upset them with the choices she makes in life, Annie gains the courage to follow her heart and give up all certainty by pursuing a relationship with Will.
Will experienced a dysfunctional upbringing with serial cheater parents who would spend every night fighting, but “in the end, they’d always come back together and tell [him] that they were going to make it work” (27). Since entering adulthood, he’s been intent on avoiding long-term relationships for fear of ending up in a similar situation. His immediate reaction when things begin to feel real isn’t excitement or anticipation but instead takes the form of a question: “But how is it going to fail?” (107). For this reason, he holds everyone at arm’s length; he never dates the same girl for longer than three weeks and engages only in casual hookups.
This is clearly not the lifestyle that generates happiness and contentment; however, Will keeps himself busy with work and “do[ing] at least one exciting thing that each city is known for” when traveling (43). When he’s busy, he doesn’t have time to think about anything else like “whether [he’s] lonely or whether [he] made the right career choice” (77). By spending years distracting himself from pursuing relationships to avoid becoming like his parents, Will is engaging in the same avoidant and in-denial behaviors of his parents. Deep down, Will’s behavior indicates his desire for the love he never got from his parents, who always placed him in the middle of their fights and blamed him afterward. Through heavy flirtation with others, Will becomes widely loved and craves that attention from as many people as possible, even if it is not as intimate as the real thing.
