Neil Klugman
Neil is the protagonist in the novella. He is a young man of twenty three with a degree in philosophy and at least two years serving in the US armed forces. He works at the public library in Newark, New Jersey. His life is turned upside down one summer when he meets the beautiful and wealthy Brenda Patimkin, a friend of his cousin, vacationing in Short Hills for the summer. Meeting her makes him question his current socio-economic standing in life and causes him to experience great insecurity, as he feels that his worth is constantly being measured by the size of his bank account.
Brenda Patimkin
Brenda Patimkin is Neil’s very beautiful, very wealthy, hyper-competitive girlfriend. She studies at Radcliffe University up in Boston, but her college course is never specified in the novella. She is on summer break in Short Hills which is how the two meet. Events are narrated through Neil’s perspective and apart from her beauty, wealth, highly competitive nature, and sexual appetite there isn’t much that is directly mentioned about her. Her interactions with Neil and her own family however provide some very compelling insights about how she truly is.
