All Your Perfects

Quinn is the protagonist of All Your Perfects, a dynamic character who changes over the course of the novel. She’s a kind, loving person who deeply wants to be a mother, possibly because of her distance and neglect by her own mother. After her father’s death in her adolescence, Quinn’s childhood family consisted of herself, her mother Avril, and her sister Ava. Though Quinn and Ava are close, Quinn has always felt unwanted by her mother, who was never a maternal figure. The sisters even have a running joke in which they describe their mother as “your mother” instead of “our mother,” indicating the distance they feel from her.

As a character, Quinn represents and reflects the experience of many women who struggle with infertility; in this way, she creates space for Hoover to interrogate assumptions about femininity and the pain many women experience when they are unable to conceive and carry a child. Quinn also subverts stereotypes of women as emotional and talkative through her repression of feelings and tendency to shut down instead of talking to her husband, Graham.

Quinn is a dynamic character because she changes and grows throughout the course of the novel. The “Then” and “Now” structure of the novel allows the reader to see how Quinn has changed from “Then” to “Now,” but there are also significant changes within the span of “Now”—namely that Quinn, who’s become lost in her pain, is unable to recognize the “perfect” things she does have. “Then” Quinn begins as a hopeful young woman who thinks she’s found the perfect family set-up when she meets Graham. Even at the beginning of their relationship, Quinn is more reserved in her expression of feelings—for example, she worries that Graham is moving too quickly when he firmly declares that they’re soulmates. This trait evolves through the years until “Now” Quinn hides the majority of her feelings from Graham and avoids interactions that may lead to emotional connection. “Then” Quinn has changed into someone who struggles with self-loathing and hopelessness.

However, “Now” Quinn is able to correct this course and open up to Graham again. Though infertility consumed Quinn’s life and ability to feel joy, after her miscarriage and hysterectomy, she recovers and embraces a new vision of life—finally able to relinquish her expectations of the stereotypical family and embrace the reality of her current family (her husband Graham, beloved nieces and nephews, and a dog). Quinn doesn’t give up on her dream of raising children with Graham, but learns to be happy with what she already has.