Catherine (Cat)

Cat (full name Catherine) is the novel’s central character, protagonist, and narrator. The reader gets to know her at two different ages, in two different settings, and in two different narrative lines. The primary manifestation of all three of these elements, taking up most of the book’s page length, is set in the past: Cat is in her mid-teens, is living a life of isolation and rebellion in a remote part of Northern Michigan, and moves through a narrative line (story/plot) involving her deepening, sometimes infuriating, and often dangerous, relationship with the older, more worldly, drug-addicted Marlena. The secondary route, through in which the reader gets to know and understand Cat is set in the present: Cat is in her mid-thirties, is living a life of activity and connection in the busy, crowded city of New York, moves through a narrative line (story/plot...