Mrs. Fletcher

At 18 years of age, Brendan is handsome, athletic, hard-partying, and “wasn’t as nice a person as he used to be—not nearly as sweet or as kind or as lovable” (12). Brendan was once a sensitive boy who slept with a picture of his absent father under his pillow and was close to his mother; when the novel begins, Brendan is arrogant and selfish, with an attitude towards women that derives from misogynist pornography. He judges everyone at face value, deciding at a glance that laddish Zack is worth his while, whereas Sanjay, who is quieter and more academic, is not. 

Popular Brendan, who had a charmed high school experience, does not want to expand his social or academic horizons in college. Finding himself alone for the first time, Brendan stumbles into a friendship and flirtation with unconventionally attractive, ethically-minded Amber, and he participates willfully in events with her, such as autism awareness meetings and underwear parties against body-shaming. As Amber encourages Brendan to think about feelings he has repressed regarding his father’s absence, Brendan recognizes that Amber is a good influence on him. However, the default sexual language he uses with her causes both the end of the relationship, his isolation on campus, and his eventual public humiliation.

Brendan’s experiences teach him that he cannot return to the privileged position his superficial qualities granted him in high school, and that his former identity of “a big, friendly, fun-loving bro” (12) is insufficient in the adult world. Interestingly, the reliable male presence of George and the manual labor of plumbing proves to be a good influence on Brendan. Despite Brendan’s continued confusion about his work and school options, he is a changed and humbled character by the end of the book and does not automatically assume his privilege in every situation. 

Eve’s ex-husband and Brendan’s absent father, Ted makes fleeting appearances in the novel. His decision to leave Eve and Brendan to start another family with a younger woman caused both Eve and Brendan undue pain and stress, while Ted maintained the veneer of charm and affability. Avoidant, with a penchant for taking the easy way out, Ted visited the “Casual Encounters” section of Craigslist and met other women rather than fixing his marriage with Eve. His attitude to his former family, following his remarriage and the birth of his autistic son, Jon-Jon, is casual, and he appears in Brendan’s life only when it suits him. Like Eve, Ted overlooks Brendan’s character flaws and goes even further, praising Brendan for being the typical college kid who drinks a lot.

Ted is useless at providing guidance when Brendan drops out of college, leaving that role to Brendan’s new father-figure, George. While Brendan idolizes his father and craves more time with him, Ted regularly puts his new family’s needs before Brendan’s. For example, he changes the original plan of visiting alone on Parents Weekend, and when Jon-Jon has a tantrum, Brendan is pained to witness the scrupulous attention that Ted pays his half-brother. Ted’s behavior builds the reader’s sympathy for Brendan, who stands out as a confused young man in need of a paternal figure. 

George, “a stocky, squinty guy with rust-colored hair, a rusty beard flecked with gray, and an air of permanent impatience” (30), initially appears in the novel as the plumber whose father, Roy Rafferty, is excluded from the Senior Center. George is also bereaved when his father and wife die in the same year.

There are macho elements to George’s character: In his youth, like Brendan, he dropped out of college because he was partying too hard, and during his wife’s sickness, he coped with his sexual frustration by drinking excessively and watching pornography. However, he learns to find healthier outlets for his grief, such as yoga and a monogamous relationship with Eve. He is nonjudgmental, accepting of the fact that his elder daughter, Maeve, has a conventional, heterosexual marriage, while his younger daughter, Katie, is more sexually fluid. George is a good, almost paternal influence on Brendan, seeming “like he filled an empty space in [Eve and Brendan’s] lives” (302). Still, Eve is aware of George’s shadow side, given that he objectifies her as a MILF at the same time as loving her. 

Becca is Brendan’s “ridiculously hot cheerleader girlfriend” from his senior year, whom he broke up with in time to start college (221). She is “[p]etite and […] totally put together” (7), with immaculate, figure-flaunting clothes and full makeup. Becca is snarky with Eve and falls over backwards to please Brendan. Becca’s gesture of offering her departing ex-boyfriend oral sex and showing him her breasts on Skype, when he has done nothing to deserve the honor, is derived from a misogynist pornographic culture that turns women into sex objects. She becomes such an object for Zack, who remains in the room while Brendan is having his Skype conversation, as Perrotta shows the strong overlap between pornography and real life in the more macho elements of campus culture. While Becca is devastated when her parents do not allow her to visit Brendan on campus, she moves on from Brendan and the type of oafish jock he represents when she finds African-American Jason on Instagram, who is both athletic and literary. Jason is a good influence on her, as she applies herself in school and has high academic hopes for the future. 

Brendan’s roommate Zack, “a broad-shouldered kid from Boxborough with a narrow, neatly trimmed beard that hugged his jawline like a chin strap,” seems like Brendan’s “long-lost brother” (14). Zack shares Brendan’s interests in drinking, sports, and demeaning women. Initially, Zack seems even more misogynistic and sleazy than Brendan when he hangs around during Brendan’s Skype call with Becca and calls Eve a MILF.

However, when Zack meets and begins dating Lexa, a girl who is beautiful, but who uses a wheelchair, he avoids Brendan because Zack is embarrassed by him and the person that he becomes around him. He considers that Lexa deserves better than who Zack is when he is with Brendan, and he wants to put “the way we talk about girls […] the shit we say” (202) behind him. Zack’s falling in love and development of a conscience causes him to shun Brendan because of the macho amorality that Brendan represents. Zack’s character development in the early part of the novel provides a counterpoint to Brendan’s lack of development. 

Amber “look[s] like a farm girl, freckles and a blond ponytail, and big shoulders, almost like a guy” (45). Initially, Brendan is so “distracted by her shoulders” (45) that he does not notice that she is pretty; however, he quickly learns that he is unexpectedly attracted to her athletic strength. Amber challenges Brendan to think about world issues and encourages him to talk about topics he has repressed, such as his brother’s autism. She leaves a lasting impression on Brendan, and when his fortunes with the women in his life sour, Amber is the girl he truly misses and regrets losing. His being a disappointment to her is the final straw for his career at BSU.

A “passionate opponent of capitalism, patriarchy, racism, homophobia, transphobia, rape culture, bullying, and micro aggression,” Amber finds a “mismatch between her politics and her desires” (167), which point her towards jocks who mistreat her. Although Brendan seems a “bouquet of red flags” (168), optimistic Amber chances to catch his redeeming side at the activities fair, in the library, and at the Autism Awareness meeting. When Brendan proves to fulfill the careless jock stereotype during their demeaning sexual encounter, a furious and hurt Amber blames him. However, in the letter to Brendan, after he has returned home, she realizes how she was the one “who gave [him] the power” (304) to demean her by getting involved with him in the first place. She continues on her feminist journey volunteering in a women’s shelter in Haiti and vowing to take a firm hand with the men she gets involved with in the future. 

Sanjay, “a skinny nerd who looked like he was about twelve years old” (19), is Indian-American, an excellent student in electrical engineering, and describes architecture as his “first love.” Brendan dismisses Sanjay as “annoying” and not worth his time because the two are so different. Brendan continues to shun Sanjay’s offer of friendship until he finds himself isolated on campus. Ironically, Sanjay also begins to dislike Brendan but proves to be his truest friend at BSU, as he is the one who tells Brendan about Cat’s art show. Sanjay also plays the instrumental role of driving Brendan home when Brendan has given up on college. On the drive home, Brendan’s expectations about Sanjay are overturned as he turns out to be “a decent driver, not as timid as I thought he’d be,” and “pretty easy to talk to” (226). He learns that Sanjay has a full life, with a Korean-American math whiz girlfriend, and knows more about sports and music than Brendan anticipated. While Sanjay’s role in the novel ends with the car ride, he gives Brendan a lesson in not making face-value judgements. 

Amanda is “short and buxom, with Cleopatra bangs and multiple lurid tattoos that she made no effort to conceal” (35), including a hand grenade on her breast. Amanda, who has just finished graduate school, broken up with her boyfriend, and moved home to Haddington to occupy the house left to her by her recently deceased mother, is a misfit in the conservative, northeastern town. She considers that her job of organizing events and activities at the Senior Center made “a mockery of [her] expensive education” (65) and has no appetite for following the hard-partying lifestyle expected of someone her age.

Amanda, who does not fit the slender female beauty stereotype and judges herself harshly for returning to Haddington after a stint in New York, becomes the object of Eve’s pornography-inspired desires. However, while sexual experimentation is a phase for Eve, who eventually returns to a heterosexual, monogamous set-up, Amanda continues to try new types of relationships: casually with younger Julian, and in a more committed way with Betsy. While Eve and Amanda’s working relationship never recovered after their sexual involvement and the subsequent cooling of their desire, Amanda remains a witness to “Ursula,” Eve’s fantasy alter-ego, and is the only person that Eve confesses to regarding her text and picture exchange with Julian.

Margo, born Mark Fairchild, is the transgender woman who teaches Eve’s Gender and Society class. An adjunct professor at Eastern Community College, Margo is “slender and athletic-looking, with narrow hips and attention-grabbing breasts” (50), and she dresses in conservative suits and stiletto heels. Margo projects confidence, as she encourages her class to think beyond the narrow gender norms they were born into. However, she faces daily prejudice and isolation for her choice to be herself. At the Senior Center, when Margo tells the painful story of being rejected by her mother, her lecture is ill-received by the seniors present, who preferred her as the male, basketball-playing Mark Fairchild. Nevertheless, Margo finds love with Dumell, the African-American ex-Veteran in her class. Margo forces the characters to “question […] all the little rules that got shoveled into your head when you were a kid and couldn’t defend yourself” (146) regarding gender identity, and to liberate themselves from the stereotypes that have been holding them back.