Mim

Mim is the narrator of the novel. Her full name is Mary Iris Malone, and Mim is an acronym of her name. Her name is important to her and she makes a differentiation between the name Mim and the name Mary. She is the 16-year-old daughter of Barry and Eve, and Kathy is her stepmother. She is intelligent and thoughtful, and exceptionally mature in most ways. She is struggling with the possibility that she has a mental disease. Though she does not believe she is ill, her father does and has spent a lot of time and effort to ensure she is “well,” though this is largely a manifestation of his guilt over his sister's suicide. Mim often uses curse words and has been keeping secrets from all the adults in her life, partly as a means of protecting herself from emotional pain but also because she has...