Heather Breakstone

Heather Breakstone is the daughter of Mark and Karen Breakstone and one of the novel’s four central characters. Heather is the character around whom all of the events of the novel revolve but, conversely, she is the character about whom the reader learns the least. The majority of the narrative is told from the perspective of Heather’s parents Mark and Karen, and the construction worker Bobby Klasky, leaving a blank space at the heart of the novel: the reader knows that the other characters focus all of their emotions and energies on Heather, but is never really informed who Heather is.

Throughout the novel, much is made of the idea that Heather is somehow exceptional, whether because of her beautiful good looks, her unusually developed sense of empathy, or her success on the school debate team, leading the reader to believe that Heather is not...