Anna and Tom

The novel does not feature any characters in the traditional sense. Anna and Tom are not explored as distinct individuals with interior lives, histories, or psychological depth. Instead, they exist as a couple—always referred to jointly, never separately—and are constructed almost entirely through the things they own, the spaces they inhabit, and the images they project. This refusal to individualize them is significant. It reinforces the idea that their identity is collective, curated, and performative. Anna and Tom are presented less as "people" but more as an example of a lifestyle—a brand of modern "coupledom" defined by aesthetic choices and aspirational taste.

Throughout the novel, Anna and Tom are never given separate perspectives, and we are never told what they think or feel. Their relationship is not analyzed or dramatized through dialogue or interior monologue. Instead, we learn about them through the contents...