Clay
Clay is the protagonist of the story. He is 18, attractive and quite rich. Clay studies at Camden, New Hampshire, but there are no mentions of classes he is enrolled in; he comes back from New Hampshire to Los Angeles for a winter break and gets involved in a life full of parties, drugs and concerts. Clay bounces between moments of absolute indifference, trance caused by drugs and a feeling of agitation. In spite of moments of longing for his ex-girlfriend, Blair, he has other love affairs with both men and women.
Blair
Blair is Clay’s long-term girlfriend and a student of USC. She likes Clay and hopes that they can restore their relationship. The problem is that Clay is not sure that he likes her and his affairs with other people hurt Blair’s feelings. They decide to spend a vocation together, but soon enough Clay gets tired of her presence. In the end she asks Clay not to leave for New Hampshire, but he does it anyway.
Julian
Julian is one of Clay’s oldest friends with whom he grew apart. Other characters say that he is “completely fucked up” and Clay is soon to find out that it is really so. Owing a lot of money and being a heroin addict, he becomes a prostitute.
Trent
Trent is Clay’s friend who is described as “a male model” with “deep, dark tan”. He goes to U.C.L.A and becomes a member of the fraternity. It seems that he and Clay get along quite well at the beginning, but soon Trent starts talking about things which Clay doesn’t understand. Trent doesn’t bother himself to think about adequacy of his actions and is often portrayed as an immoral person.
Rip
Rip is Clay’s drug dealer and a former DJ. Rip could be called the antagonist of the story due to his immoral actions. He rapes a drugged minor and states that he can do whatever he wants because he “if you want to do something, you have the right to do it”.
Daniel
Daniel is a friend of Clay, who also goes to Camden. Although his parents are not separated, they are not interested in his life which seems to bother Daniel. In spite of the fact that people believe he is a gay, Daniel worries that the girl he had had an affair with got pregnant. When a winter break comes to its end, he decides that he doesn’t want to return to Camden. Daniel stays in L.A. to work on a screenplay.
Kim
Kim is Blair’s friend. She is a daughter of a film producer who is so abandoned by her mother that she has to read magazines to find out whether her mother is.
Alana
Alana is also Blair’s friend. Once she comes to Clay and confesses that she had an abortion. He lets her spend a night in her room, so that she could rest.
Muriel
Muriel is an acquaintance of Clay and Blair, who suffers from anorexia. Clay visits her at a hospital once.
Fill
Fill is a pimp of Julian. He calls Julian “my best boy”, but treats him cruelly.
Clay’s family
Clay’s family doesn’t play the most important role in the story. His father and mother are separated and barely communicate since then. Clay’s two younger sisters, 15 and 13, boast that they can get “own cocaine”. However, it seems that Clay used to be fond of his grandmother who died of cancer.
