Character Clues

Character Analysis

Physical Appearance

Word to the wise: in this novel, you are what Asher draws. Since Asher is a visual artist, we know how he feels about the other characters in the novel primarily through his physical descriptions of them. Take this description Asher gives us of his father—

A tall skullcap covered his head. His sidecurls hung uncombed alongside his cheeks…Standing there, with the room in shadows and his faintly illumined features reflected in the window that looked out onto the dark street, he seemed to spread himself slowly across the wide night, to embrace and cover the darkness with his blanket of melody and soft light. (15.1)

—and compare it with this description he gives us of his mother:

She was small and slight; her arms were thin and smooth-skinned, her fingers long and thin and delicately boned. Her face was smooth and smelled of soap. I loved her face next to mine when she listened to me recite the Krias Shema before I closed my eyes to go to sleep. (6.3)

From these physical descriptions alone we can tell that Asher thinks of his father as an intimidating presence, and that he thinks of his mother as gentler and more relatable. Other physical appearances-of-note include Asher's descriptions of his snot-nosed yeshiva classmates and the beret-wearing Jacob Kahn.

Actions

Aside from outright inviting them out for a cup of coffee, analyzing characters' actions are probably the number one way we get to know characters best. For instance, what do we remember about Hamlet if not that he creepily held up Yorick's skull and claimed to know him well? Nothing? Yeah, we didn't think so.

Actions are a pretty big deal in this book: we learn a lot about who characters are and what they want through the things they do. For instance, we learn that all three members of the Lev family value each other (and other family members) greatly, because: 1) Aryeh loses sleep over what he thinks is his son's ruined future; 2) Asher almost stops practicing his gift because he thinks he's disappointing his parents; 3) Rivkeh takes up her brother Yitzchok's life where he left it off right after he dies.

We know that Asher is important to Jacob Kahn because Jacob Kahn makes a sculpture of himself and Asher dancing during a Jewish holiday. We know that Ann Schaeffer believes in Asher as an artist because she hosts a gallery showing of his artwork. You get the idea.