Tamina is a 33-year-old Czech exile who works as a waitress in Western Europe. Following the loss of her husband, Pavel, she lives a solitary life intensely focused on preserving his memory. Her days are consumed by attempts to visually recall his face and a desperate ambition to recover her lost letters and diaries from a desk in Prague. She represents the profound disorientation of being unmoored from one's past and country.

An exiled Czech writer living in France who frequently steps into the story to reflect on history, memory, and his own life. He acts as both the storyteller connecting the novel's seven distinct parts and a character reflecting on his displacement and the systemic erasure of his homeland's culture. He uses autobiographical confessions to explore the moral compromises demanded by an authoritarian state.

A dissident intellectual in Czechoslovakia who finds himself under surveillance by the secret police. He keeps meticulous diaries as a form of rebellion but becomes obsessed with retrieving and destroying old love letters he wrote to an "ugly" former girlfriend. His personal mission to sanitize his own past closely mirrors the state propaganda machinery he actively opposes.

A young and deeply insecure intellectual returning to his provincial hometown for the summer. He is prone to litost, a uniquely Czech feeling of torment brought on by the sudden sight of his own misery. He seeks validation by associating with prominent literary figures in Prague while pursuing a romance with an older married woman in his hometown.

A married man who frequently engages in extramarital affairs under an unspoken agreement with his wife, Marketa. He orchestrates complex social situations to relieve his guilt and satisfy his desires. When his aging mother visits unexpectedly, he uses nostalgia to reframe his present romantic entanglements and escape his own dissatisfaction.

Karel's wife, who struggles with the moral compromises of their open marriage. She initially resents her mother-in-law's intrusion but slowly shifts her perspective as she deals with an unconventional dynamic with her husband and their confident friend Eva.

A 45-year-old man preparing to relocate to the United States. He is obsessed with the concept of boundaries, contemplating both geographical borders and the psychological limits that govern desire, intimacy, and meaning in his life.

A married woman from a provincial town who works as the local butcher's wife. She is enthralled by discussions of poetry and philosophy, seeking a heightened intellectual romance with a visiting student while remaining terrified of physical intimacy due to the medical risks of another pregnancy.

A confident woman who embraces her sexuality and rejects traditional expectations. Introduced to Marketa at a spa, she becomes entangled in a masquerade with both Karel and Marketa, using her forthright nature to ease the tension in the household.

Karel's elderly, nearsighted mother. Though perceived as difficult and domineering by her family in the past, her poor eyesight and fading memory ironically offer a protective, localized perspective on life that begins to fascinate her son during her extended stay.

Mirek's former lover and a loyal member of the Communist Party. She is viewed by Mirek as an embarrassing piece of his past due to her physical appearance and political sympathies. She genuinely cares about his well-being despite his aggressive attempts to erase their shared history.

Jan's partner, who advocates for a reinvention of sexuality and firmly rejects traditional gender dynamics. She approaches the world, including a visit to a nude beach, with a liberated but emotionally detached perspective that confounds Jan.

A friend of Jan who is gravely ill with cancer. Despite his grim prognosis and inability to engage in physical intimacy, he remains remarkably spirited, continually planning for the future and falling deeply in love with an actress.

A young man who frequently visits Tamina's café and harbors romantic feelings for her. He tries to impress her with his political writing and intellect, eventually offering to retrieve her precious notebooks from Prague.

A teacher in France who longs desperately to belong to a community or movement. She misinterprets her American students' pain and awkwardness as profound artistic expression, ultimately joining them in a surreal classroom display.

A brave friend of the narrator who risks her livelihood to help him secure a ghostwriting job when he is blacklisted by the state. She faces interrogation by the secret police for her loyalty, bearing the consequences of their association.

The 17-year-old son of Mirek. He strongly disapproves of his father's reckless and absurd mission to retrieve old love letters while they are actively being monitored by the secret police.

A young American studying abroad in France. She approaches her assignments with naive enthusiasm, reducing complex literature to literal, comic symbolism by wearing a cardboard horn for a presentation.

An American student studying in France. Alongside Gabrielle, she interprets an absurdist play strictly for its comedic effect, laughing with delight at their own cleverness before being disrupted in class.

A Jewish student in Madame Raphael's class who feels ostracized. She seeks revenge after being denied study notes by physically disrupting her classmates' presentation.

Tamina's deceased husband, who fled Czechoslovakia with her. His fading memory is the central void in Tamina's life, driving her desperate attempts to retrieve their old diaries and letters.

A customer at the café where Tamina works. She is an aspiring writer whom Tamina hopes to use as a courier to retrieve her precious notebooks from Czechoslovakia.

A cynical author whose work is disliked by some. He insists that the only authentic writing conveys the author's sincere point of view, pushing back against Bibi's superficial ideas about novels.

A professor who introduces The Student to a circle of elite writers at a club in Prague. His name is a pseudonym bestowed by the narrator to represent his literary stature.

A poet at the Writers Club who views the world through a romanticized lens. He provides a moment of profound validation for The Student by reading a personal letter aloud as if it were a beautiful piece of verse.

A famous poet who charms his peers and signs a book for a provincial woman, elevating her status in The Student's eyes.

A humiliated poet at the Writers Club who masks his wounded pride with loud declarations of superiority, directly embodying the feeling of litost for The Student to observe.

A mysterious young man whose name echoes that of an archangel. He recognizes Tamina's grief and guides her away from her mundane life toward a surreal, remote island populated entirely by children.

A young actress suffering from a breakdown after her son runs away. She becomes the object of the dying Passer's final, passionate infatuation.

The patriarch of a progressive but hypocritical family. He urges Jan to visit Passer before his death, and his runaway hat provides a moment of dark comedy at a funeral.

Jan's friend who orchestrates highly structured and mechanical orgies. She treats sexuality as a choreography to be tightly managed, raging when Jan and others disrupt her careful rituals with spontaneous laughter.

Jan's friend who experiences the pressures of the female gaze at one of Barbara's orgies, where he is forced to perform on command and rejected when he fails.

The narrator's dying father, whose aphasia prevents him from articulating his profound knowledge of music. His loss of words mirrors the state-sponsored forgetting of the Czech people.

Pavel's mother, who still lives in Czechoslovakia and possesses the desk containing Tamina's notebooks. Their relationship is strained by distance and resentment over expensive phone calls.

Tamina's father, who never liked her late husband. He is tasked with retrieving Tamina's notebooks, though she deeply fears his judgmental gaze upon her private writings.

Tamina's sibling, who agrees to collect the notebooks from their mother-in-law and hand them over to a courier on Tamina's behalf.