The Idea of You

In this section, Solène and Hayes’s relationship progresses. Solène struggles to tell Isabelle about their relationship out of fear of hurting Isabelle’s feelings, as Isabelle has long expressed an obsession with Hayes and August Moon. Solène also grapples with her growing insecurity over Hayes’s past relationships and possible other current sexual partners. She encounters two of Hayes’s former lovers in this section, which initiates anxiety spirals that lead her to attempt to end their relationship. As their relationship gains more exposure, Solène learns of Hayes’s penchant for older women. The fact that Solène and others consider this suspect is an exploration of how Society’s Disregard for Aging Women can be internalized and reflected in women’s attitudes toward themselves and each other. When Isabelle finds out about the relationship, she expresses distress over Hayes’s choice of Solène over herself, a reflection of the competition often experienced between mothers and daughters as daughters attempt to create their own identities separate from the shadows of their mothers.

Lee here is also exploring the idea of the “sisterhood”—that loyalty demands that women put each other first before their relationships with men. This is another societal pressure that Solène must navigate. Not yet a woman, Isabelle turns 13 over the course of the novel and enters a transitional phase. Unable to share her thoughts about womanhood openly with Isabelle, Solène struggles to navigate Isabelle’s turbulent emotions while honoring her deep connection to Hayes.

Isabelle’s reactions demonstrate that she is growing into a sexual being and personifies the female teenage fan crush and also the dangers for underage girls as they navigate their feelings in the adult world: Although Isabelle is closer in age to Hayes than Solène, any attachment between them would be deeply inappropriate. The implicit dangers in this dynamic are here combined with Solène’s insecurities over Hayes’s sexual history and potential lack of monogamy. Solène continues to minimize her growing feelings for Hayes to protect herself from being hurt. In this way, Lee generates conflict and plot momentum between Hayes and Solène as Hayes expresses his love for Solène openly and takes steps to define their relationship, following the genre pattern of the romance novel.

Despite her hesitation, Solène continues to explore a relationship with Hayes and challenges her impulse to restrict herself from expressing her true feelings. This section further develops the theme of Reality Versus Fantasy. When Hayes touches her stomach during her house tour, Solène reacts harshly to Hayes’s comments about her being pregnant. Although she maintains doubts over her ability to fulfill Hayes’s desire for a family, Solène allows herself to accept Hayes’s love.

As Solène and Hayes’s relationship grows stronger, outside forces threaten to uproot their progress, a common trope of the romance genre: one where reality begins to intrude on the private world of the lovers. In particular, secrets and the resulting shame become important to the narrative. Oliver, Hayes’s bandmate and childhood best friend, begins to act strangely toward Solène by initiating physical contact and making inappropriate sexual comments about her; she conceals this. This secret mirrors Hayes’s secret about his previous relationship with Oliver’s sister. Secrets raise the tension and suspense in a context centered on the major secret of Solène and Hayes’s relationship that, even when it is known by friends and family, must be hidden from the public.

Art as an expression of love plays an important part in this section. Hayes gifts her a photograph from her gallery that represents his support of her passion for art, and by extension her career. The photograph depicts a seductive image of a nude woman entitled “Unclose Me,” a reference by Lee to Hayes’s description of Solène as a slowly opening flower. Lee positions Hayes as a foil to Solène’s ex-husband Daniel whose lack of support for Solène’s work and passion for art ultimately led to their divorce. In an act of full trust, Solène allows Hayes not to use a condom during sex for the first time after she receives the photograph. This step indicates the growing trust between Solène and Hayes and the significance of his support for her. Hayes’s support of Solène’s artistic passion continues as their relationship progresses. He purchases art for himself and learns about it on his own to engage in conversation with her and her friends. He remains patient through Solène’s consistent attempts to push him away and declares his commitment to her openly. Through his steadfast dedication to her, Hayes encourages the growth of Solène’s self-awareness. After a fight over one of Hayes’s former lovers, Solène acknowledges her attempts to push Hayes away over her insecurities by claiming “I knew I was wrong. My way of coping. To distance myself before the inevitable. In some ways, I had done the same to Daniel” (237). Through her relationship with Hayes, Solène’s character arc shows her beginning to recognize the patterns in her relationships that allow her to shield herself from vulnerability but, ultimately, destroy her connections.

Lee expands on the complexities of womanhood not only in her depiction of Solène and Isabelle’s relationship but also in her discussion of art. She chooses Solène as her protagonist and places her as an expert in the art world with a passion for increasing opportunities for women and, particularly, women of color. She juxtaposes Solène with Hayes who struggles with defining himself as an artist due to the heavily commercialized nature of August Moon’s pop music. Through her description of art and Solène’s relationship with art, Lee explores the purpose of art and comments on society’s expectations on women. In this section, Solène meets with Anya, an artist whose exhibition explores “how women of a certain age cease to be seen. How society sweeps them under a rug, ignores them, discards them once past their prime” (222). Solène connects with Anya’s message and ponders her advancing age and loss of desirability in society’s eyes. Solène’s thoughts regarding her future as an unvalued older woman fuel her to embrace every moment with Hayes and their passionate love affair while, simultaneously, contemplating the limits of their relationship.