Bix Bouton
Bix Bouton is the CEO of the tech company Mandala. He invents an application that allows people to upload their consciousness to a digital cloud. Later in life, he shows regret for his actions and leaves a great deal of his wealth to a rival non-profit, Mondrian, that is attempting to counterbalance his work.
Alfred Hollander
Alfred is the youngest son of Ted Hollander. From a young age, he is fixated on the idea of authenticity and engages in various sorts of provocative behavior, like wearing a bag on his head and screaming in public to jolt people out of their daily roles. He makes a documentary about the migration patterns of geese. He later dates sociology graduate student Rebecca Amari and takes her on an eventful trip to his family home.
Miles Hollander
Miles is the oldest son of Ted. Originally a successful lawyer, his life falls apart after he becomes addicted to prescription medication, begins an affair with his wife's friend, and causes a terrible car accident. He works at a methadone clinic and eventually decides to visit his cousin Sasha. After making a suicide attempt in a hot air balloon, his life begins to turn around. He and Sasha's husband Drew develop a close bond after Drew saves his life and they overcome their initial antagonism. He moves to California and wins a local government seat.
Drew
Drew is Bix's friend from college and Lincoln's father. He is a doctor who is haunted by the death of his college friend Rob. He saves Miles's life after he attempts to leap from an air balloon. While he strongly dislikes Miles for a long time, they eventually develop a friendship and he assists in Miles's political campaign.
Lincoln
Lincoln is a statistical analyst working for Mandala. His outlook on life is defined by his appreciation for patterns. He is close with his family, particularly with his sister Allison, who shows a great deal of empathy for his occasional lack of social decorum. He is in love with coworker M and describes his struggle to use quantifiable information to connect with her. He ultimately marries M.
Charlene Kline
Charlene Kline is the daughter of record producer Lou Kline. She is bitter about his absence from her life and feels he is largely to blame for her brother Rolph's suicide. Later in life, she attempts to better understand her father by revisiting his memories of a camping trip he took in the 1960s, where he discovered the first band he ever produced.
Melora Kline
Melora is Lou's youngest daughter. In childhood she shares a powerful bond with her sister Lana, so much so that their chapter is written with the plural pronoun "we." While initially closest to her strong and reliable mother, Miranda, she gradually builds a relationship with her father, record producer Lou Kline, assisting him with his personal and business matters. She describes herself as being unflappable and dependable, weathering even the most difficult circumstances with practicality and grit. Eventually she alone controls her father's business empire, after her sister joins her mother in living "off the grid."
Lana Kline
Lana is Melora's older sister. She shares a close bond with her sister Melora and derives strength from their relationship. She also becomes increasingly involved in helping their father with his music business as well as his personal matters and health concerns. Later in life, she joins her mother as an "eluder."
Roxy Kline
Roxy is Lou's middle daughter. She is a recovering heroin addict whose once-promising future was destroyed by her struggles with drug use. She attends a weekly Dungeons and Dragons game hosted by Chris Salazar and Molly Cooke. She uploads her memories to Mandala's network in an effort to relive her father's memory of their trip to London. She is hurt by the memory of his rejecting her after they share a brief moment of closeness during a long conversation with one of his friends. The chapter "Bright Day" describes a happy day in her life, in the months leading up to her eventual overdose and death.
Chris Salazar
Chris is the son of Stephanie and Bennie Salazar. He works for SweetSpot and later becomes head of Mondrian. He is resistant to Mandala's consciousness-upload technology as he feels it is a massive invasion of personal privacy. Early in his career, he breaks scenes from stories down into "stockblocks" using algebra. He explores the way in which different moments are essentially repeatable variations from different genres of story. He also enjoys playing Dungeons and Dragons, an activity which he begins as a teenager and continues into adulthood. He loses his childhood best friend Colin to a heroin overdose and recognizes that he often takes on the role of a caregiver.
Molly Cooke
Molly is the youngest daughter of Noreen Cooke. As a teenager, she becomes close with Chris, Colin, and Lulu after they spend the day together at her town's country club. She is insecure about her relationship with her friend Stella, who often mistreats her. She cries frequently. Later in life, as shown in the "Bright Day" chapter, she works closely with Chris, hosting a weekly Dungeons and Dragons game for recovering addicts.
Hannah Cooke
Hannah is Molly's matter-of-fact sister. She has a less sympathetic view of their mother, finding her to be overly intense, obsessive, and deeply embarrassing. She later becomes Bix's lawyer and reveals to his family that he has left a large portion of his life savings to Mondrian. She is nicknamed "the Vault."
Lulu Kisarian
Lulu is a childhood friend of Chris and Molly's. She is the daughter of a disgraced PR woman who did work for a prominent dictator. She is described as being very strong and self-confident, even as a child, qualities that Molly admires her for. As an adult, she takes part in the Citizen Agent program and acts as a spy, infiltrating the lives of powerful, dangerous men. In one of the book's final chapters, she is shown struggling with the physical and mental aftereffects of this work.
Gregory Bouton
Gregory is Bix's son. He is a writer. Throughout his life he rejected his father's work, influence, and financial assistance. He struggles with his father's death as he feels like he never really reconciled with him properly. At the end of the chapter about him, he is shown finding some measure of closure as he looks up at some falling snow.
Ames Hollander
Ames is Ted's middle son. He is an ex-military operative who carried out targeted assassinations. The final chapter of the novel describes his quiet self-assurance, showing him successfully hitting a game-winning home run. It notes that this assurance allowed him to do his work, but also to walk away from it. As he gets older, he leaves the military and moves home with his mother. After discovering a "weevil" implanted in his brain by the government, he sets up an off-the-books business that assists people with scanning for and removing them.
Stephanie Salzar
Stephanie is Chris's mother. She is admired and feared by both Molly and Hannah. She and Chris are very close.
Jules Jones
Jules is Stephanie's brother. He is an author who writes a profile on Lulu's father.
Noreen Cooke
Noreen is Hannah and Molly's mother. Molly appreciates her blunt intensity but Molly finds it off-putting.
Lou Kline
Lou is a record producer and father to Roxy, Charlene, Melora, and Lana. He is shown as a mostly absent father who only develops a meaningful relationship with Melora and Lana. In later years, after the rise of music file sharing and a series of strokes, he becomes increasingly dependent on Melora and Lana's help to run his production business.
Jazz Attenborough
Jazz is an aging movie star and Lulu's father. He is described as vain and focused on still appearing youthful despite his advanced age.
Miranda Kline
Miranda is Melora and Lana's mother. She is briefly married to Lou before leaving him after he has an affair. She goes on to become a renowned anthropologist. Her theories are sold to social media companies by Melora in order to keep their father's business afloat. She is fiercely opposed to Mandala's work and mission.
