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Anya Borzakovskaya
Anya Borzakovskaya
- "Look, I'm not going to...solve your murder or whatever, so you can rest in peace. Sorry, not my scene. But I'll tell someone to come bury your bones or something. Okay?"
The protagonist, a Russian-American teenage girl convinced that she's fat and unattractive. She's an immigrant living with her mother and brother Sasha, attending what she calls the third worst private school in the state and trying to get by amongst rowdy classmates and boring classes by smoking and ditching with her friend Siobhan. After she finds Emily, Anya's life becomes a little more bearable. And then significantly worse.
- Affectionate Nickname: Her mother calls her Annushka, a diminutive of her name Anya.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Her backstory was being cruelly bullied by other children when she was younger, just because her family were poor Russian immigrants. Downplayed in the present—she occasionally gets laughed at by other students when something embarrassing happens to her, but she's not considered an outcast, even being able to hitch a ride to a popular kids' party and being considered attractive by multiple boys.
- Big Sister Instinct: She might think her brother is a big pain, but she will still comfort and defend him from harm like when Emily frightens him after her true nature is revealed.
- Book Dumb: Her grades aren't so great but she is socially savvy.
- Deadpan Snarker: Anya spends the whole book being snarky and sarcastic, starting when she first speaks to Emily.Emily: Does everyone dress like that now? It doesn't look very warm.Anya: It's a great outfit for falling down giant holes in.
- Disappeared Dad: Her father is not present and is implied to have divorced her mother, based on a comment from her mother that she uses child support to pay for "a good American private school".
- Establishing Character Moment: In the first couple pages, Anya complains about the syrniki (cheese pancakes) her mom is making, saying they're too greasy and instead opting for an apple and some yogurt. When her little brother Sasha says he loves them, she cheerfully says, "Well, you can have mine then." Then, when Mom reminds Anya that she loved them when she was a little girl, Anya disdainfully comments that back then, she "weighed 300 pounds and kinda looked like Grandma." We can quickly deduce that Anya has self-image issues, isn't really proud of her Russian heritage, and is a bit snippy, but still has a soft side.
- Hartman Hips: Downplayed; Anya's legs and hips are impressive, but not unrealistically large.
- Hiding Your Heritage: Anya dislikes her lengthy Russian surname and pretends it's "Brown" when Sean asks her her name.
- Hollywood Pudgy: Invoked; Anya is so insecure she looks in the mirror and sees a fat girl, when in reality she's just got a curvy body type.
- I Am Not Pretty: Firmly believes she isn't attractive and that she never was attractive, even when several people insist otherwise.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Anya has a definite mean side, smokes, and is rude to Emily and refuses to help her when they first meet. She's ashamed of her Russian heritage, and believes Dima deserves to be beaten up everyday for acting so "fobby" (fresh off the boat). However, she's actually a good person underneath who begins to wise up to why her behaviors are harmful after seeing them reflected in Emily, and she eventually quits her bad habits for good.
- Loving a Shadow: Anya is infatuated with the Big Man on Campus Sean, a handsome and popular basketball player, and seeks Emily's help in winning him for herself. However, her infatuation vanishes when she discovers that Sean is a Manipulative Bastard who preys on his girlfriend's insecurities and love for him to cheat on her constantly with other girls at parties — with her knowledge and help.
- No Periods, Period: Joked about when Anya's mom is trying to get her to go to church and possibly meet up with Dima. Anya tries to get out of it before she claims that she got her period "just now", causing her mother to give up and go without her.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: She looks gorgeous wearing a low-cut top and short skirt at Matt's party, attracting the attention of at least two boys. Downplayed, because she's hardly unattractive in the first place to begin with (even if she thinks otherwise).
- Smoking Is Cool: She's seen smoking cigarettes in several scenes, fitting her desire to become a cool, popular teenager. At the end of the book, she gives it up, showing that she's starting to mature.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Siobhan, although she tends to take her jabs a little harder when in a bad mood, and especially when it concerns her crush on Sean.
- Weight Woe: Anya thinks she's fat and is strongly self-conscious about her weight. She implies she was chubby when she was younger and was teased about it, which is where her self-esteem issues originate from.
- What You Are in the Dark: At Matt's party, she finds out that Sean, her crush, sleeps around with other girls — and that Elizabeth, his girlfriend, lets him get away with it, being an Extreme Doormat who says that she loves him and he only does this at parties. When Sean invites Anya to join him and Matt's girlfriend Amber in the bathroom, she can't bring herself to hurt Elizabeth more and leaves. This turns out to be what makes her different from Emily — Anya is unwilling to hurt others to get what she wants, while Emily has no such qualms about doing so.
- Youthful Freckles: Has freckled round cheeks but not the cheerful persona.
Emily Reilly
Emily Reilly
- "There hasn't been anyone but myself for so long."
A sweet little ghost girl whom Anya meets at the bottom of an old well, having died about ninety years ago and trapped in the well ever since, until meeting Anya. After she comes home with Anya, she's quite friendly and helpful. But she wants to stay Anya's friend forever, no matter what.
- Big Bad: She turns out to be a complete psychopath who was willing to murder her crush when he loved someone else, and ends up trying to force Anya to live as she wants her to live, turning her malevolence towards Anya's family to try and force her to comply.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Normally seems meek and mousy, but can be domineering and catty when pushed. As well as outright murderous.
- But Now I Must Go: During their final confrontation, Anya finally convinces Emily that holding on to her desire to live her life again through Anya has just trapped her in one place. Once she realizes this, Emily finally disincorporates and 'moves on'.
- Cute Ghost Girl: She's spindly and has hair like a dandelion, making her more of a mousy cute.
- Ghostly Goals: She wants to experience a hyper-idealized life of teenage bliss and happiness, which she cannot because she is dead. So she does it through Anya instead.
- If I Can't Have You…: When she was rejected by her crush and saw him kissing the girl he was in love with, she barred the doors of his house from the outside and burned it to the ground with both him and his girlfriend inside it.
- Jacob Marley Apparel: She's stuck wearing the same jumper dress she wore when she died, and is even a little upset she can't wear more modern clothes. She does find a way to change her hair.
- Light Is Not Good: Emily appears at first to be a Cute Ghost Girl who is slim and skinny with big eyes, drawn in pale white colors in contrast with the Deliberately Monochrome darker color scheme, and starts out appearing to be a very useful helper to Anya at first. Then Anya learns that Emily she murdered the boy she had a crush on and his girlfriend by burning down the house they were in and ran away when being chased by a mob — and after Anya confronts her, Emily's true nature comes out and Emily starts attacking her family.
- Manipulative Bastard: She pretty easily makes herself indispensable for Anya by ingratiating herself into her personal life and making things easy for her. Once that's done, she moves on to "encouraging" Anya by giving her helpful advice on how to live.
- Non-Human Sidekick: She's one for Anya, being a ghost who is extremely helpful to her in school and her social life.
- Noodle People: Her ghost form is floaty, but even in life she was thin and flat and small. She later lampshades this after reading some magazines and learning her body type is a "Ruler".
- "Not So Different" Remark: Near the end, when Anya calls her out on her evil behavior, Emily insists that Anya would have done the same thing if "she had held the match in her hands" and seen her crush with his love together. Anya denies it vehemently.
- Unreliable Narrator: On two instances.
- The boy she was in love with and supposedly engaged to, who supposedly died in World War I, may not have even existed. The boy she did love didn't like her at all and she killed him and the girl he rejected her for by burning them to death.
- Emily told Anya that she was chased into the well by a maniac after he killed her parents. She was actually chased by an angry mob for murdering her crush and his girlfriend, and fell down the well in the process of fleeing.
- Vague Age: Most descriptions and her appearance in the story have her look like a little girl at the time of her death (which was in 1917, since the story is set in 2011). Most readers (and Anya) assume her to be around Anya's age, particularly since she was (or claimed to be) engaged to be married. Even in the 1910s, most people in America usually married in their late teens at the earliest. It's revealed she was lying about being engaged and the photo of her that Anya finds in the newspaper report about her crimes shows her dressed in a rather juvenile fashion; she may be slim and small due to malnutrition. Either way, her age isn't clear — but she was at least a teenager when she died.
- Yandere: The book's cover implies she becomes this to Anya, but she actually was one to a boy she liked when she was alive, burning him alive with his lover when he didn't want her.
Siobhan
Siobhan
- "I heard about you down in that freakin' well for two days! That's so badass."
Anya's best friend, although the two of them often have disagreements. She's an Irish girl with a load of terrifying older brothers and the only female in the school to wear pants. She's also caustic, another smoker, and a bit of a delinquent. Despite this, she genuinely cares for Anya and the tries to help in her own way.
- A-Cup Angst: A tiny bit; Anya snarks at least that Siobhan is just jealous that no boy ever "talks to her boobs."
- Boyish Short Hair: Siobhan has a very short haircut that makes her look decidedly unfeminine.
- Crossdresser: Siobhan wears the boy's school uniform, making her look like a boy.
- Deadpan Snarker: This trait tends to tick Anya off, but Siobhan can't seem to help herself. Anya's one too.
- Eyes Always Shut: Siobhan is never seen with her eyes open.
- Fighting Irish: Downplayed. Siobhan is Irish, and while not physically aggressive, she is The Lad-ette, behaves like a delinquent, and doesn't hesitate to throw verbal jabs at a girl being rude to Anya.Katy: Hey, Anya, I heard about your nice moves in gym today!noteSiobhan: Hey, Katy, I heard about your nice moves in the boys' bathroom today!
- Genre Savvy: She says that Anya's crush on Sean is like something out of a teen movie and questions if he's really being nice to Anya or to "her boobs." She's right about that.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's sarcastic, foul-mouthed, smokes (while bumming smokes off Anya), ditches class, and other delinquent behaviors, but she truly does care about Anya and defends her when anyone else picks on her.
- Lady Looks Like a Dude: Take out the hair clips and one could mistake her as a boy for her short hair, clothes (including wearing the boys' school uniform), tall frame, and thin and flat body.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: According to Anya, she has "about five thousand terrifying brothers".
- Nightmare Fetishist: She thinks Anya staying in a hole for two days is "badass" and is absolutely thrilled to hear she found a skeleton in it.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Anya. The two often trade barbs at each other, but Siobhan is her only real friend. And a way better friend than Emily.
Sean
Sean
Anya's crush. He's a handsome player on the basketball team who has a sure shot at becoming captain senior year. He's also dating Elizabeth Standard, which makes it hard for Anya to even get the nerve to approach him even if she wasn't feeling insecure. After meeting Emily, Anya just might have the courage to make her move after all.
- The Ace: He's hot, well-liked, and a star on the basketball team dating one of the nicest girls in school. He's also fairly popular in the bedroom, too, unfortunately for his girlfriend....
- All Men Are Perverts: He's actually a major creep who cheats on his girlfriend (sometimes with his friends' girlfriends) and only pays attention to Anya because she's curvy.
- Big Jerk on Campus: A handsome and popular basketball star dating the Class Princess, who is the object of Anya’s affections. However, those affections quickly fade away when she finds out that Sean is a Jerkass who constantly cheats on Elizabeth, sometimes with other guys’ girlfriends, and takes advantage of his girlfriend’s insecurities to make her not just Turn the Other Cheek, but also to actively help him cheat.
- Black Bead Eyes: He's got these for his eyes, which give him a resemblance to Emily's crush.
- Manipulative Bastard: Takes advantage of his girlfriend’s insecurities and self-loathing to recruit her in helping him cheat on her whenever he wants.
- Nice Guy: He comes off as this to Anya at first, as an attentive boyfriend who's also quite friendly to her. He actually is a pretty bad boyfriend though, sleeping around and having Elizabeth keep watch.
Elizabeth Standard
Elizabeth Standard
Sean's girlfriend and one of the prettiest, most athletic girls in school—naturally she's like Anya's arch-rival in the story, especially in getting Sean's attention. Despite this, Elizabeth isn't a very mean girl, and as Anya eventually learns she has problems of her own.
- The Ace: In-Universe. Lampshaded by Anya—everything about her is utterly nice, making her wish Elizabeth would show just once that she can be imperfect too. She gets her wish when she sees how insecure Elizabeth is at Matt's party.
- Alpha Bitch: Subverted. She doesn't have the mean-spirited personality that typically defines them, and is kind and friendly; Anya is the nasty one and she and the other girls are jealous of Elizabeth for being all around "perfect". It's at the Wild Teen Party Anya attends that she finds out Sean likes to sleep around with other girls and Elizabeth not only knows about it, she goes along with it, because she only feels good about herself if she and Sean are together and desperately wants to keep him in her life. All her positive traits mean very little to her and it only shows she probably has little to no self esteem.
- Beneath the Mask: She may seem happy and carefree all the time, but at Matt's party the truth comes out— she's a miserable girl with low self esteem who knowingly dates and aids a sleazebag.
- Class Princess: Anya hates Elizabeth for being so sweet and perfect in addition to being beautiful and a Dude Magnet. However, it’s deconstructed when it’s revealed that her niceness hides huge insecurities and makes her an Extreme Doormat.
- Disposable Fiancé: As Sean's girlfriend, this trope is played with; she initially seems to be the bland type compared to Anya, as pictured in Anya's own imagine spot, but Anya sees that Sean really does view her as disposable, or at least not worth being faithful to, and Anya can't bear to take that same view when she realizes this.
- Emasculated Cuckold: Gender Inverted. Anya has a crush on her classmate Sean, one of the most popular boys at school. She looks to steal him away from Elizabeth, a popular girl that she resents for being perfect. When Sean invites Anya to a party, Anya is happy, seeing it as the perfect chance to steal Sean from Elizabeth. To Anya's shock, she learns that Sean is a sleazeball that sleeps around with other girls and invited her to have a three-way with his best friend's girlfriend in the bathroom. She's also shock to learn that Elizabeth knows about the cheating and even miserably keeps watch over the door. Anya can't bring herself to sleep with Sean and hurt Elizabeth, and leaves the party. Before she leaves, Anya asks Elizabeth why she lets Sean treat her that way; Elizabeth admits that she is really miserable and insecure and Sean makes her happy. She loves Sean, or she thinks she loves him, and will do anything to keep him in her life.
- Foreshadowing: When Anya falls and Elizabeth jumps over her to avoid getting tripped, she asks Anya if she is alright. This goes to show that she is a Stepford Smiler.
- Insecure Love Interest: Deconstruction. Elizabeth Standard is one of the prettiest, most athletic girls in school, dating one of the more popular boys, Sean. Everything about her seems to be perfect, and despite how jealous Anya and the other girls are of her she appears to be a nice and carefree girl. Then at a party Anya learns that Sean is a creep who sleeps around with other girls (even his friend's girlfriend) with Elizabeth not only knowing but keeping watch; Anya, who come to the party to steal Sean from Elizabeth, couldn't bring herself to sleep with Sean and hurt Elizabeth. Before Anya leaves the party, she asks Elizabeth why she lets Sean treat her like that, and Elizabeth tells her that while she appears happy, she really is miserable and insecure, and the only person that makes her really happy is Sean. Because she loves him, or as she admits, thinks she loves him, she's willing to do anything to keep him in her life, even though his cheating and her covering for his cheating is hurting her.
- Love Martyr: She loves Sean—or at least thinks she does—so she'll do anything to keep him—including showing that she's "cool" with him sleeping around by keeping watch while he does it.
- Meaningful Name: Everything about her seems to be "standard" perfect traits for a rival love interest—thin, blonde, nice, athletic, and clear skin. But she actually doesn't have it so great.
- Oblivious to Hatred: Anya is jealous of and greatly resents popular girl Elizabeth Standard. She has a crush on Elizabeth's boyfriend Sean and plans to steal him from her. Anya hates how everything about her is utterly nice, making her wish Elizabeth would show just once that she can be imperfect too. Elizabeth appears to be completely in the dark about how Anya feels about her, and treats her nicely. Anya later lets go of her jealousy and resentment of Elizabeth when she learns that Sean is a creep who sleeps around with other girls, while Elizabeth allows him to cheat on her because she is miserable and insecure without him - Elizabeth is willing to do anything to keep him in her life because he makes her happy.
- Stepford Smiler: Elizabeth is seen by many as the girl who has it all, looks, talent, charm, and the perfect boyfriend, pulling off anything with a sweet smile. But Anya finds out that her sweet smile is hiding overwhelming insecurities, as she is so desperate to keep Sean in her life that she actively finds girls for him to cheat on her with.
Dima
Dima
A short-statured Russian boy whose family is friends with Anya's. He's nerdy, intelligent, small, and moved to America at a later point in his life than Anya—all making him a prime target for bullies. Anya, for her part, tries to ignore him, believing he deserves the bullying for being a "fobby creep" and not wanting more of the same.
- All of the Other Reindeer: He has a hard time in school; he even mentions how he can't go to gym anymore because the other kids broke his glasses so much and his family can't afford replacing them.
- Geek Physique: He is a skinny nerdy boy who is shorter than Anya.
- Oblivious to Hatred: Dima, a little Russian boy whose family is friends with Anya's mother, was always friendly with Anya and appears to think they're friends. In fact, Anya hates him and tries to ignore him, believing he deserves to be bullied for being a "fobby creep". Later in the story, when Anya realizes how unfair and judgmental she has been, she starts to be nicer to Dima. She opens up to him on how she was also bullied as a child, telling him not to worry about impressing his schoolmates because being popular isn't really that important.
Anya's Mother
Anya's Mother
- "And what is so wrong with being a little fat? Back in Russia, being fat meant you were a rich man!"
Anya's unnamed mother who brought herself and her children over from Russia. An obese woman whom Anya seems terrified of turning into and is embarrassed by, she is nonetheless a kind and caring mother who often worries about her daughter's moodiness and negativity.
- Bespectacled Cutie: Has big round glasses that emphasize her large eyes and looks endearing.
- Big Beautiful Woman: Attractive and overweight and believes in this trope, stating that in Russia, being fat makes you look as though you have a lot of money.
- Foreign Cuss Word: She yells, "Oy...bleen...my leg!" when she falls down the stairs and hurts her ankle. "Bleen" (or "blin") literally means "pancake", but is most often used as an euphemism for a very rude Russian word, "blyad".
- Funny Foreigner: One of the reasons that she's so embarrassing to Anya is that she's sort of like this, such as when studying for the citizenship test and comedically flubbing who Benjamin Franklin was. She also can't speak English as well as Anya, leading to saying that in Russia being fat meant you were a "rich man."
- Good Parents: She's a sweet mother to Anya and Sasha.
- Gratuitous Russian: Provides all of it in the story, starting from what food she was making for breakfast. Oddly enough, she speaks in the Cyrillic alphabet initially and then the texts switches to a Romanization of Russian instead.
- Unnamed Parent: Is not given an actual name in story and is just called Anya’s mother.
Sasha Borzakovskaya
Sasha Borzakovskaya
- "Anya! Come see this cool fossil I found today!"
Anya's little brother, a young boy with a fascination with dinosaurs and other large scary animals. He drives Anya up the wall with his habit of stealing her jewelry and burying it in the backyard so he can "discover" it later.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Downplayed; he's mostly annoying for burying Anya's jewelry and being incredibly chipper when Anya herself is moody and depressed.
- Chekhov's Hobby: He's obsessed with paleontology and dinosaur bones, which becomes a plot point later when he finds Emily's finger bone that Anya was searching for, giving her the opportunity to get it out of the house and throw it back down the well, getting rid of the ghostly menace for good.
- Gender-Blender Name: Sasha is a girl's name in America; his family is from Russia, though, where it's a nickname for "Alexander."
- Kids Love Dinosaurs: Sasha is a little boy who loves dinosaurs. He even behaves like a paleontologist by digging up stuff he buried in the backyard.
- Youthful Freckles: He has them in much larger supply than Anya.
