The neighborhood boys are the collective narrators of the novel. Functioning as a Greek chorus, they use the first-person plural pronoun “we,” and it’s never made clear who, exactly, is speaking. Throughout the novel…
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Cecilia Lisbon
Cecilia is the youngest Lisbon sister. At 13, she’s considered odd by her sisters and neighbors alike, largely because of her unique fashion sense. No matter where she goes, she wears a vintage wedding dress…
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Lux Lisbon
Lux is the second-youngest Lisbon sister. At just 14, she’s considered the most desirable sister by the neighborhood boys, who keep especially close tabs on her. Lux is also the most adventurous sister, frequently…
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Bonnie Lisbon
Bonnie is the middle Lisbon sister. She’s 15 when Cecilia takes her own life. As the middle child, she is somewhat reserved and doesn’t necessarily attract much attention, though this is also possibly because she…
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Mary Lisbon
At 16, Mary is the second-oldest Lisbon sister. She’s also the last one to die by suicide, though this is only because her first attempt fails. On the whole, Mary is attentive and mindful of…
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Seventeen-year-old Therese is the oldest Lisbon sister. She’s intelligent, practical, and (before she takes her own life) seems eager to move on from the tragedy of Cecilia’s suicide. She tells Kevin Head at the…
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Mr. Lisbon
Mr. Lisbon is Cecilia, Lux, Bonnie, Mary, and Therese’s father. He’s a math teacher at the local high school and is a meek, reserved man. He and Mrs. Lisbon have…
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Mrs. Lisbon
Mrs. Lisbon is Cecilia, Lux, Bonnie, Mary, and Therese’s mother. She’s very strict and is reluctant to give her daughters more freedom after Cecilia’s first suicide attempt, even though this…
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Peter Sissen
Peter Sissen is one of the neighborhood boys who obsess over the Lisbon sisters. Before the suicides, Peter is the only neighborhood boy to ever enter the Lisbon house. This comes about because he helped…
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Paul Baldino
Paul Baldino is one of the neighborhood boys who obsess over the Lisbon sisters. It’s known throughout the neighborhood that Paul’s father, Sammy “The Shark” Baldino, is a powerful mobster, and the size and…
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Trip Fontaine
Trip Fontaine is a high school heartthrob who becomes enamored of Lux. The neighborhood boys are somewhat confounded by Trip, failing to see the appeal he has over high school girls and mothers alike…
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Kevin Head
Kevin Head is one of the neighborhood boys who obsess over the Lisbon sisters. Trip Fontaine chooses him as one of the boys to take the Lisbon girls to the homecoming dance. Kevin ends up…
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Joe Hill Conley
Joe Hill Conley is one of the neighborhood boys who obsess over the Lisbon sisters. Trip Fontaine chooses him as one of the boys to take the Lisbon girls to the homecoming dance. Joe ends…
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Parkie Denton
Parkie Denton is one of the neighborhood boys who obsess over the Lisbon sisters. Trip Fontaine chooses him as one of the select few boys who will take the Lisbon girls to the homecoming dance…
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Chase Buell
Chase Buell is one of the neighborhood boys who obsess over the Lisbon sisters. When the boys go over to the Lisbon house at the end of the novel with the intention of “saving” the…
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Tim Winer
Tim Winer is one of the neighborhood boys who obsess over the Lisbon sisters. The rest of the boys call him “the brain” because he’s smart. After Cecilia’s suicide, the boys get hold of her…
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Father Moody
Father Moody is the local priest. He visits the Lisbons after Cecilia’s death in an attempt to get them to open up about the tragedy. Like many of the neighborhood fathers before him, though…
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Dr. Hornicker
Dr. Hornicker is the resident psychiatrist at the local hospital. He meets with Cecilia after her first suicide attempt and determines that she would benefit from independence, freedom, and a more active social life. Mr.…
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Mr. Hedlie
Mr. Hedlie is an English teacher at the local high school, but he works odd jobs in the summers. Outside of school, he is—by all accounts—a hippie. Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon hire him to fix…
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Sammy “The Shark” Baldino
Sammy “The Shark” Baldino is Paul Baldino’s father. Everyone in the neighborhood knows he’s a powerful mobster. He is arrested and taken away shortly after the Lisbon daughters’ group suicide, and the boys seem…
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Dominic Palazzolo
Dominic is an Italian boy living in the same neighborhood as the Lisbons. He impresses the neighborhood boys by talking about how in love he is with a girl named Diana Porter, eventually jumping…
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Uncle Tucker
Uncle Tucker is a middle-aged man who lives in the boys’ neighborhood. Because of his drinking problem, he is often the only one awake late at night, so he ends up witnessing several intriguing…
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Minor Characters
Linda Perle
Linda Perle is a journalist for the local newspaper who writes articles about the Lisbon girls. The neighborhood boys think her writing about the Lisbon sisters is both overly scandalous and surprisingly inaccurate.
Joe Larson
Joe Larson is one of the neighborhood boys who obsess over the Lisbon sisters. He lives across the street from the Lisbons.
Diana Porter
Diana Porter is the girl Dominic Palazzolo is in love with. Because he can’t be with her, Dominic jumps off a low roof. Some people think this is what inspired Cecilia to attempt suicide.