Story of My Life

The fixer-upper home, or Heart House, is a symbol of Hazel’s personal reinvention. Hazel’s spontaneous purchase of Heart House represents her desire for a fresh start. The house’s state of disrepair mirrors Hazel’s own feelings of brokenness and the need for reconstruction in her life. As she undertakes the physical renovation of the house, it parallels her internal journey toward creating a version of herself that is assertive and creative.

Early in the novel, Hazel’s New York apartment is described as a “disastrous jumble of trash” (9-10), symbolizing how the dissolution of her marriage and career setbacks have left her adrift. The old Hazel—the woman who maintained order and optimism—is described as “dead and buried” (10), and what remains is a shell of her former self, desperately in need of reconstruction.

When Hazel first steps into Heart House, she notes its warped floorboards, aggressive cobwebs, and skeletal flower beds, but more importantly, she feels a pull toward its stubborn character—a house “past her prime refusing to go down without a fight” (82). The metaphor is clear: Hazel, too, is “past her prime” in her own eyes, but something within her still refuses to give up. The act of repairing the home becomes synonymous with repairing herself.