49 pages • 1 hour read
Lynn PainterMr. Wrong Number
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A 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
Evolution From Friendship to Romantic Love
Olivia and Colin’s relationship provides the narrative context for the novel’s exploration of friendship and romantic love. Olivia and Colin have known each other since they were young. However, ever since Colin “referred to [Olivia] as the ‘little weirdo’ at age fifteen,” the characters have only had a distanced acquaintanceship (9). In the narrative present, their forced proximity inspires feelings to grow between them. The forced proximity trope, common to the contemporary romance genre, is a narrative device used to draw unlikely characters together in a shared experience. In Mr. Wrong Number, Olivia’s one-month tenure at Colin and Jack’s apartment inspires the characters to spend time together and get to know one another. Over the course of the novel, an unexpected friendship develops between them which grows into romantic love over time. The novel uses their evolving dynamic to suggest that friendship provides a strong foundation for a romantic and sexual partnership.
Painter’s structure—alternating the main characters’ first-person points of view—allows her to reveal Olivia and Colin’s developing feelings for each other. When the characters start having sex and dating, Olivia becomes worried that her feelings will grow “too big and overtak[e] everything else” (260). Her internal monologue reveals her concerns about a romance with Colin. In Chapter 17’s elevator scene, she notes that “if it were just sex, [she] could handle it because it [would be] purely physical. If it were just a date, [she] could handle it because it [would be] purely fun” (260). Painter uses the elevator as a micro setting that captures the intensity of Olivia and Colin’s connection. This insular space represents the tight bond the characters have created and makes Olivia realize that she sees Colin as more than a friend. Her past romantic history serves as an internal obstacle to the progress of their relationship, exacerbating her fears and insecurities. Having reestablished their childhood connection as adults, the lines between friendship and romantic attraction become blurred. By the end of the novel, she’s better able to embrace her love for Colin when she realizes their friendship sets their connection apart from others she’s had in the past.
Colin’s portions of the narrative reveal that his and Olivia’s recent living situation has inspired his feelings for Olivia to evolve—an attraction that he regards as deep, meaningful, and sustainable. When she was living with him, they didn’t share the space “as anything more than friends” (270). However, once they begin to see each other in different contexts, Colin starts seeing her in new and different ways. His altered regard for Olivia is a manifestation of his close connection with and deep care for her. His portion of the narrative suggests that when friends allow their relationship to grow in new contexts, they might discover new forms of connection.
In these ways, the novel uses Olivia and Colin’s dynamic to prove that friendships can grow into a distinct and expansive version of romantic love.
Self-Discovery During Periods of Transition
Olivia’s apartment fire, job loss, and breakup catalyze her journey toward self-discovery and personal growth. At the start of the novel, Olivia feels lost and alone after her life in Chicago falls apart. The images of her sitting “home alone and bawling to Adele on [Jack’s] Alexa” captures Olivia’s restless emotional state (2). She feels particularly unmoored because she felt she’d “finally outgrown [her] disastrous ways” when she was living with Eli, tying her relationship with him to her vision of stable and mature adult life in which she “has an apartment in the Windy City, a boyfriend who like[s] craft beer and running, and a job as a technical writer for a Fortune 500 company” (30). Without these things, Olivia’s sense of self falters. She feels like a failure, because she’s worried that her family and friends will judge her for not having a put-together life. For her, moving in with Jack and Colin in Omaha represents her failure to sustain an independent life, forcing her to reconsider who she is, what she wants, and how to manifest these desires.
Painter repeats images of Olivia running, applying to jobs, and writing to emphasize her efforts to grow, change, and reclaim her identity. Shortly after moving in with Jack and Colin, she decides to be “the New and Improved Olivia, the one who would exercise regularly, eat well, use a planner, and land a job” (29). As soon as she has money, she plans “to implement a skin-care routine like a bona fide adult” (29). These actions convey Olivia’s determination to change her life and become the person she wants to be—taking active steps to establish her life in a new city and in spite of what she’s lost.
Painter emphasizes Olivia’s relationship to writing as central to her growing confidence and self-acceptance. When Olivia secures a new job, she rediscovers “how amazing the writing [feels]” (100). Working on articles and columns she cares about lets her experience “what could only be called a buzz” (100). The way that she describes her emotions and state of mind while writing provides insight into her self-discovery journey:
Whether it was an article on diapers (done that) or a words-of-my-heart short story, I was alive and thrumming and filled with an indescribable electric verve as I worked to put it all together. I assumed when I was creating that my brain pumped out the same juices as a runner’s high, and it made me a word junkie who pressed the feeder bar with the voracious appetite of a freshly trained lab rat (100).
Painter uses descriptive language—“alive,” “thrumming,” “electric,” “verve,” “pumped,” “voracious”—to capture the excited energy Olivia feels while writing, emphasizing it as a key tenet of the life she wants to build and the person she wants to be (100). As she writes, she reconnects with her creative practice and thus with her essential self.
The Challenge of Balancing Personal and Professional Goals
Both of Painter’s romantic leads initially resist their growing connection in order to maintain focus on independence and autonomy in their professional lives. As a result, their romantic arc centers their ability to achieve a balance between their personal and professional desires. At the novel’s start, Olivia’s breakup leaves her heartbroken and hesitant to pursue another committed, romantic relationship for fear of being hurt again and of getting distracted from her true passion: writing. The loss of self she experienced in her previous relationship motivates her to pursue independence and professional success to rebuild her life and reconnect with her authentic self. Similarly, Colin aggressively pursues independence from his family to prove himself to his father that he is his own person. Colin’s father believes that Colin is “pout[ing] and behav[ing] like a reticent child” instead of “reconsider[ing] [his] choices” and “mov[ing] forward” (296). In much the same way that Olivia is trying to prove herself to her family and friends, so too is Colin—both characters see their jobs as a way to prove their responsibility and maturity. For this reason, both Olivia and Colin are wary of allowing their personal desires to compromise their vocational futures.
Olivia and Colin’s relationship ultimately teaches them how to balance what they need and want for themselves as people with what they need and want as professionals. As their connection grows stronger, the characters learn how to support one another both practically and emotionally, allowing them to thrive both in their relationship and in their professional spheres. Olivia helps Colin write a letter that secures him a new client. Colin writes Olivia a recommendation so she can get the apartment she wants. They both encourage one another’s professional aspirations, emotional well-being, and mental health. Colin buys Olivia a mattress and gives her new sheets—gifts which show his investment in her overall happiness and comfort. Colin’s deep care for Olivia gives her the stability and security to pursue a new writing future for herself. Olivia’s love for Colin inspires him to stand up to his family and to defend what he wants and needs. The scene in which Thomas and Colin talk outside the restaurant captures Colin’s determination to claim what he needs and wants in both his personal and vocational spheres—a breakthrough made possible in part by Olivia’s support.
Olivia’s and Colin’s intersecting storylines illustrate the parallels between their personal and vocational goals, underscoring their developing connection. In the same way that Olivia’s and Colin’s first-person voices share equal space on the page, they discover how to equally balance their personal and professional goals, allowing their relationship to thrive. Through their romantic arc, the novel highlights the importance of giving equal time to one’s vocational aspirations and one’s personal needs.
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