이정 Jung Lee | a star-chasing teenager at heart suffering a mid-life crisis (and a seemingly endless dry spell)
thirty-two years old
"I know smoking is going to kill me. But so are a lot of other things, so I think I'll take my chances."
김아이 Ai Kim | a dewy-eyed schoolgirl who unintentionally sets fire to many a man's heart (and loins)
seventeen years old
"Sometimes, I look at how big, how blue, and just how damn beautiful the world is, and I just sit there and wonder. But I always end up remembering that with the beautiful comes the hideous as well."
रविशर्मा Ravi Sharma | a bitter youth with shoulders slumped from the burdens he carries and once shimmering eyes dulled by the cynicism of the world
twenty-three years old
"American Dream, my ass. The only thing about this god-forsaken place that makes it marginally better than Mumbai is the widespread availability of Pop-Tarts."
Alice Elizabeth Gallagher | a wilted blossom of a woman torn between her duties as both a provider and a nurturer
thirty years old
"I'm always terrified when she trips and falls and when she gets sick to the point where she can barely talk. But above all, I'm terrified that my daughter will end up turning into me."
Madeleine Mae Bell-Gallagher | a pocket-sized nymph with the frightening beginnings of frown lines
five years old
"I think love is when someone smiles even when they're tired. Just like Mommy."
Robert Maxwell Bell | an aimless traveler who circles the world several times over in order to find his long-lost best friend
thirty-seven years old
"I just want to be the first male in my family to reach the age of forty with both kidneys intact and no domestic violence charges."
이리오 William Rio 'Billy' Lee | a temperamental musician with a neck tattoo and a tendency to type up unsent messages at two in the morning
eighteen years old
"I might not be a 'flowers-and-chocolates' kind of guy, but I'm definitely a 'write-a-song-about-you-and-sing-it' kind of guy."
Tiffany Joy Rosenfeld-Sutton | a flirtatious free spirit with a profound sadness in her eyes and an ability to find escape in another's arms
seventeen years old
"At least I'm not a fucking idiot who doesn't know what birth control is and thinks that the pussy is for peeing."
Benjamin Alexander 'Benji' Wolfe | a garden-variety slacker with a surprising penchant for being emotionally perceptive and rapid-firing art history facts
seventeen years old
"In the wise words of the great Salvador Dali, 'I don't do drugs; I am drugs.'"
YOU ARE READING
Young
General Fiction"I never knew how pretty I was until I met you." A meditation on the inevitability of aging, (the eventual corruption of) beauty, and soul-destroying loneliness.
