A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. Prologue-Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4. Part 5-Epilogue. Character Analysis. Important Quotes. Essay Topics. Discussion Questions. Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of sexual assault. Henry Lamb is 42 years old and a founding partner of a software-design company.
He lives in an apartment in London, and for the past year, his sister, Lucy, nephew, Marco, and niece, Stella, have been living with him.
Henry is preoccupied with appearances. He likes everything in his apartment to be perfectly clean and organized, which causes some tension between him and Lucy. He also coaches Lucy on what she should wear, and internally criticizes others based on how they look. Henry has had several cosmetic procedures over the years in an attempt to look like Phin Thomsen, his childhood crush. Get access to this full Study Guide and much more! Sometimes, he is shown to be dark, obsessive, and unstable.
Other times, he is relatable and seems to be putting his dark side behind him. This makes it hard to classify Henry as simply good or evil. However, Henry garners sympathy from the reader when he expresses feelings of loneliness and incompleteness on the bike tour with Kris Doll.
Henry feels like finding Phin is his only chance at finding wholeness. By the end of the novel, Henry seems to undergo a transformation. He reclaims his identity as Henry Lamb, realizing that the version of Phin he was impersonating no longer exists. Lucy notices that Henry is calmer and less critical or obsessed with appearances. These events seemingly help Henry break free from the past and embrace his current life and identity.
