53 pages • 1 hour read
Linda HolmesEvvie Drake Starts Over
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2019A 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
Changing Seasons and Weather Extremes
By way of adding structure to the storyline, the author frames the book’s sections as seasons in a year. Each section in the story contains events that symbolize the chronological season of a year in Maine. Fall, the first season Holmes mentions, is a season of harvest, where growth culminates and things of value are introduced. In the narrative, fall is the section in which Dean first visits Calcasset, Monica comes into Andy’s life, and all the significant characters are introduced one-by-one. Holmes portrays the cessation of various types of life in the fall section: Evvie is introduced as someone who is emotionally hibernating; Dean’s career has died, and he simply wants to rest.
Winter in Maine is the harshest, most difficult season to endure. Accordingly, the section chronicling this season contains the most brutal criticisms of Dean and Evvie. They huddle together, as if taking shelter from the hostile, frozen world. Spring implies new life. In the narrative, this is the season when the romance between Evvie and Dean is born. Andy and Monica also become romantically involved. After Dean pitches one inning for the Calcasset Claws, it seems his baseball career may take root again. The summer section—phrased by Holmes as “Summer to Opening Day”—is the season when each character makes the greatest gains. In calling this section “summer,” Holmes refers to the chronological season, but more than that, she refers to the growing period in the characters’ lives. This section ends on opening day, which occurs early in spring of the following year—the day Dean arrives at Evvie’s new house. Opening day symbolizes a new beginning for Evvie and Dean.
Holmes also symbolically uses weather extremes. Dean moves into Evvie’s house during a thunderstorm. Evvie, who has had a bad day, watches as Dean pitches a pinecone against her fence in silent rage. The storm symbolizes the two coming together and bringing their turbulent, personal storms with them. Later, they show up with insufficient clothes in the middle of a cold night at a darkened baseball field. In this, Holmes says they are each in a dark, cold, exposed place, from which they flee to each other for warmth and security.
The Hidden Evvie
Thematically, Holmes wants readers to know that no one really understands Evvie’s inner thoughts. Like many repressed individuals, however, Evvie gives subtle hints about what is going on within her. Holmes uses several motifs to suggest the feelings of her main character. Evvie texts other characters, particularly Andy, Dean, and Monica. Typically, she ends these threads with a heart emoji, though the hearts are different colors—blue, purple, yellow, etc.—and only Evvie understands what they mean. Holmes refers to this as a “secret diary” Evvie leaves in plain sight without anyone knowing what she is saying.
Another motif Holmes uses is the changeable use of Evvie’s name. Every other character is simply referred to throughout by a first name: Dean is always only Dean. Periodically, however, Holmes will stop referring to her main character as Evvie and instead call her Eveleth. When the author uses Evvie’s name this way, she implies that Evvie has gone to a different, distant emotional place. Eveleth, her mother’s hometown, is a metaphor for longing. When Holmes refers to Evvie by this name, she implies emotional distance and withdrawal. Evvie herself at one point says she was named for her mother’s misery, a thought that correlates with the author’s use of her full name.
Symbolic Allusions
Evvie is not the only person who offers coded language for readers to interpret. One of the author’s frequent uses of symbolism is the “Easter egg”, a kind of allusion specifically intended for readers with knowledge of Holmes’s life and career. Holmes playfully references herself, her career, and her editorial views of various topics. She also refers several times to the primacy of radio over TV. Thus, the author invokes her career as an NPR reporter and podcaster in the narrative, allowing Evvie and Dean to give public radio a pat on the back while mocking sports radio. The book’s endorsement of the efficacy of therapy is another symbolic self-reference. Holmes is very open about her emotional journey and the value of professional therapists.
Holmes symbolically makes several editorial comments on digital media and journalists. On two occasions, she demonstrates the instantaneous nature of modern digital reporting, making clear that while such immediacy can be used in worthwhile ways, it can also be used to hurtful, sensational ends. This occurs when Ellen Boyd posts a misleading, malicious article about Evvie and Dean on the internet less than an hour after interviewing Evvie. Dean’s negative attitude toward hack journalists conveys Holmes’s view of the unethical, pointless sensationalism of tabloid writers.
