Jayne

Jayne Baek is the main character of the novel, and the first-person narrator. She is a Korean American college student living in New York City who finds out shortly after the novel begins that her sister, June, has cancer. Jayne has many insecurities and feelings of inferiority regarding her appearance, education, her lack of connection to her Korean heritage, and her lack of general success in life. These insecurities are often portrayed in terms of her tendency to compare herself to June, whom she sees as being much more accomplished.

Jayne suffers from disordered eating, and this is the primary way that she attempts to deal with her problems. She appears to have symptoms of both anorexia and bulimia: She tends to deprive herself of food for long periods of time and then binge eats and purges during times of emotional stress. She is in therapy but is...