Rabo Karabekian

Rabo Karabekian is 71 years old at the time that he writes his autobiography. He is a semi-retired painter and World War II veteran who lives in a beach house property in the affluent East Hampton neighborhood in New York. He is the narrator and the writer of the book, which is his autobiography. He was married twice: his first wife, Dorothy, left him due to his obsession with art, and his second wife, Edith, died and left him a widower. Rabo is a first-generation Armenian American—his parents fled from Turkey early in the twentieth century during the Armenian Genocide.

Rabo showed a talent for drawing from a young age, and while his cynical father was skeptical of his talent, his mother supported him and helped him find an apprenticeship. He worked in an ad agency as an artist, but he constantly feared that his work lacked "soul." When World War II began, he volunteered and got assigned to a camouflage unit because of his artistic talent. Unfortunately, he suffered a severe injury after an explosion and consequently lost an eye, forcing him to wear an eye patch for the rest of his life.

Dan Gregory

Dan Gregory is an artist that Rabo apprenticed under. Gregory is famous for his skill at producing art that has photorealistic detail. He detests modern art and the movement for abstract expressionism, and he expressly forbids his assistant from visiting the Museum of Modern Art. While he has considerable artistic talent, Gregory is is also possessed of a pretentious and scathing personality. In fact, the criticism that Gregory delivers to Rabo haunts Rabo's entire life.

Gregory also proves to be vindictive, as after Rabo is dismissed from his apprenticeship, the artist beings slandering him and makes it difficult for Rabo to get employed as an artist. It is also revealed that Gregory considers Benito Mussolini—the Italian fascist dictator—to be the greatest of men. This devoted admiration proves to be his downfall, however, when he is shot and killed while on his way to Italy to visit his hero.

Marilee Kemp

Marilee Kemp is Gregory's assistant whom Rabo falls in love with. She's one of the major reasons that, after being disenfranchised by Gregory's antagonistic nature, Rabo chooses to continue with his apprenticeship. On one occasion, Marilee and Rabo visit the Museum of Modern Art, and it is there that they both become enamored with the works of early abstract artists. When Gregory discovers them, he seems less upset that they appear to be a couple (as they are holding hands) than by the fact that they were appreciating modern art, and he fires both of them on the spot.

While Rabo and Marilee have a genuine affection for each other, she eventually encourages him to make his own way in the world, and they part ways when he leaves Gregory's tutelage. Marilee then becomes a rich Countess and the widow of the wealthy Italian Count Portomaggiore, a British spy. Marilee and Rabo have a bittersweet reunion after the war, and she is the one who eventually tells him that Dan Gregory is dead. They do not rekindle their romance, but they do remain friends—and Marilee supports him in his art career—until Marilee dies.

Dorothy Roy

Dorothy, Rabo's first wife, was the nurse at the hospital where he recuperated from his wartime injury. Despite the fact that they are separated, Rabo does not blame her, as he was a terrible husband (he describes his "post-war movie" as an excess of alcohol and nights away from home) and a worse father to their two...