Our Last Resort

Gabriel is the novel’s deuteragonist. He and Frida consider one another to be siblings, and their close bond defines them. Both Frida and Gabriel spent their childhood in the same cult, and as adults, they carry the scars from their time there. Frida says that as a boy, Gabriel “liked to flirt with the idea of mischief” (53). However, she reveals that he is rule-abiding in nature and craves affirmation. She notes that he “woke up every day of [his] childhood wanting to be perfect” (117). As a boy, he absorbs the cult’s teachings to such a degree that he comes to value his communal identity and the role that he plays within the cult’s social structure. He wants to be a “good” member of the cult and experiences emotional distress when he is punished for breaking the cult’s strict rules. Aside from the physical pain of the corporal punishments, Gabriel sees them as an indictment of his entire identity. To a much greater degree than Frida, he seeks approval from the cult authority figures. This need for approval eventually translates to a hesitation to leave the cult. When Frida encourages him to leave, he is unsure if he wants to experience life outside or redefine himself without the cult as an identity rubric.

However, Gabriel is also characterized by his love for Frida, and this ultimately helps him find the courage to leave the cult. The two form a deep bond in childhood and become each other’s support systems. Gabriel flouts the cult’s rules by using their supplies to carve Frida a wooden letter “F” as a gesture of his affection, showing that she is special to him and that he is willing to take risks for her. After Émile rapes her, Gabriel knows that he and Frida cannot remain in the cult any longer, and he even decides to set fire to Émile’s quarters to signify his anger. This ends up killing another cult member, Edwina, causing Gabriel to feel lingering guilt.

In the years after they leave the cult, Gabriel struggles to cope with life on the outside as he has become used to the cult’s ways. His fixation with the Roman Empire speaks to his interest in family dynamics and genealogy, since he has been deprived of his own. This also leads to him building a new, post-cult identity as a researcher. He no longer wants to perform physical labor—which he was forced to do in the cult—and is drawn to a world of learning that was previously inaccessible to him. Yet, his newfound interests and position as a research assistant are not enough to sustain him. Gabriel experiences depression as he tries to acclimate to his new life, and he ends up using alcohol as a coping strategy. This skyrockets when his marriage to Annie becomes strained and as he experiences an increasing amount of guilt over Edwina’s death.

Gabriel, however, remains affectionate and loyal, just as he was even in childhood. His relationship with Sabrina, although brief, is rooted in genuine connection and kindness. During their few interactions, he displays an interest in her history and ideas, and he is sympathetic to her marriage troubles. When Sabrina is found dead, Gabriel bends down to hold her hand—a gesture that speaks to the depths of his feelings for her. Similarly, his affection for Frida sustains her through her traumatic childhood at the cult and is also a source of reassurance in her adulthood. He recognizes when she needs extra support, like when she experiences panic attacks, and lovingly provides it.

William Brenner is the novel’s antagonist. He is a secondary but important character. William is a media mogul who rose to prominence by buying up a series of tabloids. During the investigation into Gabriel’s wife’s death, Brenner’s papers were particularly hard on Gabriel and accused him of murdering her. Although Gabriel was exonerated in the killing, Brenner’s coverage continued, and Gabriel’s reputation suffered.

William’s ruthlessness is apparent in his personal as well as his professional life. He is quick to anger and his relationship with Sabrina is abusive and often violent. The novel’s first scene portrays the moments before Sabrina’s murder and it shows William engaged in a dispute with her that quickly escalates when he attempts to physically assault her. After William murders her, he further displays his callousness by trying to frame Gabriel for her murder. William is an opportunist who uses what he knows of Sabrina’s brief affair with Gabriel first to cast doubt on Gabriel’s character. He even plants fake evidence of the murder in Gabriel’s backpack.

Before her death, Sabrina describes the early days of William’s courtship of her to Gabriel, noting William’s penchant for grand, romantic gestures. Although she was swept off her feet by William, she does come to realize that he is ultimately manipulative: He only desired a beautiful younger wife and didn’t have genuine feelings for her. In this way, William is a foil to Gabriel, who is characterized by his deep feelings of affection and loyalty.

Sabrina dies at the beginning of the novel, but her character gains depth and complexity through flashbacks. She is William Brenner’s young, beautiful wife, and she is presented initially through the framework of her volatile marriage. Frida sees Sabrina as a victim and vows to make her acquaintance so that she can support her. Yet, Sabrina moves beyond this initial portrayal in the chapters that depict her short, romantic relationship with Gabriel. She comes across as kind and trusting, since she admits that she fell in love with William’s romantic overtures. Sabrina did not understand that William craved a young, beautiful wife only as a status symbol. Similarly, she quickly trusts Gabriel and opens up to him, even though they spend only a short time together. Sabrina tells Gabriel that she comes from a working-class family and grew up with a single mother. She admits she—like Gabriel—still struggles as a result of her unstable childhood. An avid reader, Sabrina is reading Madame Bovary when she meets Gabriel. This is a moment of foreshadowing: The protagonist of Madame Bovary dies at the end of the novel, and her death prefigures Sabrina’s.

Émile is the leader of the cult in which Gabriel and Frida spend their childhoods. A French immigrant, he spends his first few years in the United States engaged in illegal business dealings that ultimately land him in prison. After he makes his way out, he starts the cult. Frida recalls his charm and charisma. She says: “Émile knew everything. He was full of ideas, stories, music. He’d built a whole world for us using his thoughts as bricks” (14). He appears all-knowing to his followers and promises them a lifetime of happiness if they follow his rules.

Despite his magnetic personality, Émile is an abusive man and one of the novel’s antagonists. He uses his charisma to manipulate and coerce his followers. He controls every aspect of their lives, forcing them to live communally in a compound with no money or possessions of their own. His campaign against the nuclear family unit is another tool of control: He divides and conquers his followers, separating parents from one another and from their children. The children are raised communally by parents who use punishments to keep them in line, and as a result, they are more emotionally malleable and easy for Émile to control. Émile presents himself as a genius, but eventually Frida realizes that his teachings are actually “word salads” devoid of meaning. He also presents himself as a benevolent father figure, but in truth he preys upon the women in the cult: He sexually abuses them, beginning on their 18th birthdays in order to avoid prosecution for pedophilia. Gabriel and Frida break free of Émile’s control, and this is a key part of both their journeys. In the years following their escape, they will learn to define themselves as individuals rather than as cult members.

Edwina is a secondary character who appears only a few times in the narrative, but she still plays an important role. She is one of the younger women in the cult, and Frida grows up with a strong dislike for her. Frida observes that “there was a darkness to Edwina” (106), and she does her best to avoid her. Edwina envies Frida when Frida begins to do administrative work for Émile, but Edwina does not dare to express these feelings toward someone who has obviously garnered their leader’s favor. Edwina embodies the control that Émile has over the members of his cult, both because of the reverence she shows him and because of her role in Frida’s sexual assault. It is Edwina who takes Frida to Émile on Frida’s 18th birthday and holds her down while Émile rapes her. Frida and Gabriel accidentally cause Edwina’s death when they set fire to Émile’s office as they leave the cult, and the event fills Gabriel with guilt. Although Frida loathes Edwina for the role that she played in her assault, Frida ultimately admits to herself that Émile had so much control over the women in the cult that she, too, would have carried out any orders he gave her.