Eileen Dunlop

Twenty-four years old at the start of the novel, Eileen Dunlop is a quiet, self-absorbed girl who is deliberately malnourished and living with her alcoholic father in the quiet town of X-ville, a generic New England town. She spends the majority of her time within the confines of her own mind, alternating between self-loathing, being ashamed of her body, and engaging in fantasies of either escaping X-ville or falling into a relationship with Randy, a corrections officer who works at Moorehead. For the most part, Eileen has nothing but contempt for anyone she encounters during her days in X-ville but that mostly stems from her being isolated and no one making an effort to reach out to her. She has an older sister, Joanie, who she avoids, and her mother has passed away, while her father's sister, Ruth, does not engage with her.

Obsessed with her body...