Fangirl Down

Josephine Doyle is one of the novel’s protagonists. Throughout large portions of the narrative, the third-person narrator inhabits her consciousness and depicts the narrative world according to her perception of it. In the narrative present, Josephine is 26 years old. She lives in Palm Beach, the Florida town where she grew up with her parents, Evelyn and Jim Doyle. Evelyn and Jim have been protective of Josephine for as long as she can remember. When she was six, she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, which led Josephine to grow up “with two full-time human helicopters that watched her every move” (22).

As she came of age, Josephine became determined to care for herself and to establish her independence. She did everything in her power to convince her parents “that she could take care of herself” (22). The first step was insisting that Evelyn and Jim stop following her on her blood glucose app. Establishing this boundary helped Josephine to claim autonomy over her body and life. In the years following, she also takes over the management and operations of her family’s pro shop, the Golden Tee. In the narrative present, the shop is Josephine’s primary concern.