Holding Up The Universe

16-year-old Libby Strout is a junior at Martin Van Buren High School and one of the novel’s two main characters. Readers get little physical characterization of Libby besides her “medium-longish brown hair” (26) and the most important element of her appearance, her weight. Three years before the novel begins, Libby weighed 653 pounds. When she suffered a panic attack and had to be lifted from her bedroom by a crane and transported to the hospital, Libby became known as “America’s fattest teen.” Sheblames her extreme weight gain on the untimely death of her mother, which led to a cycle of anxiety-related binge eating fueled by grief. In the present, Libby is 302 pounds lighter and says that she has “around 190 left to go” (22), but she likes herself at her current size. Unsurprisingly, Libby’s weight continues to make her a prime target for teasing at Martin Van Buren High School, especially among female bullies like Caroline Lushamp and Kendra Wu.

Despite this bullying, Libby remains a confident, self-assured person who seems to take the barbs in stride, often responding to them with humor. She is highly motivated by her mother’s advice to “keep on dancing” (366) even in the face of adversity and Giles Corey’s famous line in in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible: “more weight” (244). Still, Libby occasionally shows signs of vulnerability, such as when she overhears Caroline and Kendra gossiping about her and vandalizes the school restroom with self-deprecating messages. Although she is certainly farther along than Jack in coming to terms with who she is, Libby is only human, and over the course of the novel, she faces a number of challenges to her attempts to fully embrace her whole self.

Unlike Jack, Libby recognizes that one’s identity comes from more than just one’sphysical appearance, so she embraces her sense of humor, love of dancing, and perseverance as integral parts of who she is. Beyond that, though, she also embraces her flaws in a way that Jack does not—at least not until the end of the novel. Readers see this when Libby tries out for the Damsels, not in spite of her size but because of it, and in a dramatic moment of self-realization, she dons a revealing purple bikini and hands out her a treatise on bullying in the middle of the school hallway. Libby knows how she wants to be seen, and she knows that those who care about her will see her for those qualities rather than her weight. Through Libby, Niven argues for the importance of radical self-love, even as she condemns the social structures that value “being normal” above all else.

A beautiful, popular girl at Martin Van Buren High, Caroline Lushamp is Jack’s on-again, off-again girlfriend, as well as the novel’s central antagonist. She antagonizes Libby in the literal sense, often using passive-aggressive bullying tactics to tear down Libby tomake her feel better about herself. She also antagonizes Jack in that she causes him to doubt the growing influence Libby has on him, namely, his realization that there are more important things than looks and status. Caroline represents shallowness, the ultimate form of seeing others only for superficial traits, and is motivated by preserving her own identity as the most desirable girl on campus.

And yet, as the novel unfolds, readers begin to sympathize with Caroline, too. She becomes more and more obviously envious of Libby—not envious of Libby’s looks or personality, but envious of Libby’s self-assuredness. It frustrates Caroline to see Jack grow increasingly infatuated with Libby because it casts light on her own insecurity and struggles to negotiate her own identity. Readers learn that Caroline was once nerdy, but she has since abandoned that person in favor of popularity. Even though she is a passive-aggressive bully who seems hell-bent on making Libby’s life miserable, readers can see that Caroline, too, struggles to embrace who she is and who she wants to become. In that way, Niven shows that under the surface, everyone is connected by an inner struggle to accept themselves for who they are. 

Dusty, a scrawny kid with “ears that stick out and a red-brown Afro” (15), is Jack’s 10-year-old brother and perhaps the character with whom Jack has the closest relationship. As Dusty walks off to his first day of school with purse in hand, Jack calls Dusty his “hero” (43). Later, when he finds out that Dusty’s purse was ruined by bullies, Jack offers to build Dusty a robot that can be his friend. He spends much of the novel collecting and assembling parts for the robot, motivated to “give it a good brain” (286) in contrast to Jack’s own brain, which he calls “broken” (387). Jack admires Dusty for the same reason he admires Libby: Dusty is secure in his identity. He does not care that the purse may make him the target of bullying—he embraces who he is. Dusty’s youthful confidence and insight contrast with Jack’s desperate desire to cling to his “popular jock” persona, also highlighting Jack’s deep insecurity about his identity.

Much later, when Jack’s prosopagnosia leads him to accidentally grab another child instead of Dusty at a birthday party, Jack is immensely racked with guilt over the stress it causes Dusty. Unlike previous incidents with the condition, which were socially embarrassing but fairly harmless cases of mistaken identity, this one has visibly affected Dusty. In fact, Jack’s mistake hurts Dusty’s feelings so badly that Dusty stops speaking to Jack for a portion of the novel. It is this incident with Dusty that leads Jack to finally reveal his prosopagnosia to his friends and family. Jack recognizes this as the tipping point at which he must learn to acknowledge the prosopagnosia as part of his identity. He cannot hide it any longer because it has begun to affect those he cares about most. 

Will Strout is Libby’s single father, with whom Libby has a very close relationship. Early in the novel, Libby explains that the media was quick to blame Will for the rapid weight gain that eventually led to Libby’s home rescue. However, Libby absolves him of this blame, maintaining that the “why” behind the weight gain was a number of things but ultimately stemmed from her mother’s death. Will’s relationship with Libby is very loving. While he seems to be quite protective of her, quizzing Jack on his intentions with Libby before their date, he is also very sympathetic toward Libby, which readers see when he responds to Libby’s misbehavior with kindness rather than criticism. The difficulty of contending with the untimely death of Libby’s mother has created a strong bond between Will and his daughter;Niven shows that Libby and Will are more than just family—they are friends, too. 

Dave “Kam” Kaminski joins Seth Powell as one of Jack’s best friends at Martin Van Buren High. Another popular, outgoing jock, Kam initially has a very strong influence on how Jack interacts with other characters, particularly Libby. Kam initiates the Fat Girl Rodeo by jumping on Iris Englebrecht, and while Jack feels compelled to speak out against his friend’s behavior, he chooses to remain silent in order to preserve his identity. Throughout the novel, Kam continues to reinforce the idea that popularity and status are more important than authenticity. However, even Kam grows as a character by the novel’s end. At his house party, Libby comments that Kam “catches my eye and gives me this nod, and there’s something in it that feels almost like an apology” (457), and later, after learning about Jack’s prosopagnosia, he texts Jack, “We’re all weird and damaged in our own way” (502). Like Jack, Kam begins to see the error of his ways, and by the end of the novel, he is taking steps to become a better person. 

Bailey is a kind, generous person who is “earnest, popular, and loves Jesus” (69). She and Libby were friends in school before Libby left school, and they connect again when Libby returns to Martin Van Buren High. Bailey sticks by Libby, and she is the one who tells her that the video of Jack jumping on her during the Fat Girl Rodeo has gone viral. 

Iris Englebrecht is another of Libby’s school friends. Their friendship blossoms after Iris, who is also overweight, becomes the first victim of the Fat Girl Rodeo. Iris helps Libby pass out her “Treatise for the World” (424) while Libby stands in the school hallway wearing a bikini.  

Marcus Masselin is Jack’s 16-year-old brother who will ultimately take over the family business—Masselin’s Toys—after he goes to college. 

Nate Masselin is Jack’s father, the owner of Masselin’s Toys, and a cancer survivor. He is also cheating on his wife with Monica Chapman, Jack’s chemistry teacher. Jack is the only person who knows about Nate’s affair, and he has kept his knowledgea secret from his father, his brothers, and his mother. 

Susan is Jack’s loving but no-nonsense mother. She is unaware that her husband is cheating on her until the end of the novel.

Reed Young is another student at Martin Van Buren High, and he and Jack get into an early conflict after Jack accidentally makes out with Reed’s girlfriend, mistaking her for Caroline. Jack makes the same mistake later in the novel, and Reed and his friends beat Jack up outside of Kam Kaminski’s house. 

Heather Alpern is the coach for the Damsels, the Martin Van Buren High drill team that Libby desperately wants to join. She invites Libby to try out for the squad after one of their members moves away, but ultimately does not ask Libby to join the team. Alpern’s rejection motivates Libby to form her own dance squad with her friends that anyone—no matter their size, shape, or ability—can join. 

After Libby and Jack get into a fight because of the Fat Girl Rodeo, the school’s principal sentences them to Conversation Circle, a group led by the school’s counselor, Mr. Levine. The purpose of Conversation Circle is to help students in conflict learn from one another while creating a safe space to discuss issues like “bullying, prejudice, and sexual harassment” (140). Mr. Levine is a thoughtful, kind man who genuinely cares about the students in Conversation Circle,which becomes a place where Libby and Jack get to know each other; the authenticity of the space allows them to finally see each other for who they truly are.

Monica Chapman is Jack’s chemistry teacher, a married woman, and the woman Jack’s father is having an affair with. After a contentious first day in class in which Jack implies he knows of her affair, Jack drops the course. Later, Monica tries to get Jack’s father to send him to therapy because he “seems so angry” (228).

Moses Hunt and his brothers are known around Martin Van Buren High as the “James Gang” (240). Moses is the embodiment of the typical school bully, and he has been one of Libby’s main antagonists since childhood. It is his schoolyard taunts that make Libby realize that people will hate her for her weight, and when she returns to school, she finds that Moses is just as cruel as he was in fifth grade. At the end of the novel, Moses is one of the people who attack Jack as he tries to leave Kam’s house party.

Rachel Mendes is Libby’s long-time counselor, tutor, former caregiver, and best friend. Herand Libby’s counseling appointments have gone from daily to once a week, but Rachel remains a constant in Libby’s life. They have a connection beyond that of counselor and patient—like Libby, Rachel has also struggled with her identity. Rachel identifies as queer, and she later tells Libby that her journey is Libby’s own version of “coming out” (513). 

Seth is the third member of Jack’s trio of friends, and like Kam, encourages Jack in his poor and thoughtless behavior.