Carlisle

Carlisle is the main character and first person narrator of the novel. In the narrative present, Carlisle is “forty-three and living in Los Angeles” (22). She works as a choreographer, making the ballets she once dreamed of dancing in. Although Carlisle spends the majority of her childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood dreaming of and attempting to “become a ballerina,” her artistic pursuits do not play out the way that she anticipates (69). Carlisle does indeed prove herself to be a skilled dancer. However, because of her uncommonly tall height, she is not offered any full time positions with the dance companies to which she applied. She briefly attempts a career in acting after her dance disappointments, but does not find the grounding or success in this world that she had hoped for.

Throughout her life, Carlisle’s character is driven by her desperation for home, family, and belonging. Shortly after...