Cassandra Williams

Cassandra Williams is one of the novel’s three first person narrators. Throughout the novel, she is alternately referred to as Cassandra, Cee, and C. For the sake of clarity, this guide primarily refers to Cassandra as Cee throughout.

When Cee is 12 years old, her younger brother Wayne drowns while the two are spending an afternoon at the beach together. After burying Wayne in the sand, Cee sees him swimming out into the water. Not long later, Wayne gets caught in the current and dragged away. Over the course of the years that follow, Cee struggles to reconcile herself with her brother’s death. Because Wayne’s body is never recovered, Cee’s grief and sorrow assume a fragmented and atypical form. Cee also finds that the more that others question her version of events, the more she doubts the way she experienced Wayne’s death. Over...