The Watchers

Mina is the protagonist of The Watchers, and her perspective dominates most of the narrative. She is an artist living in Galway who “dr[inks] too much and smoke[s] too much, and never answer[s] her phone” (193). Her sister, Jennifer, complains about all these habits, and their mother died from an illness prior to the events of the novel. Mina is “just the sad, quiet girl who always le[aves] without saying goodbye” (173). She occasionally takes art commissions but dislikes doing them. Instead, she often makes her money at the casino or by doing odd jobs for the bartender at her local pub. As an artist who watches people and draws them, Mina is a foil to the watchers in the forest. She looks upon humans not as pets (as the watchers do) but as muses. At the beginning of the novel, Mina thinks that her looks are average at best, reflecting, “Her beauty was the generic sort, and where was the beauty in that?” (17). 

After being imprisoned in the coop, Mina’s body and mind change drastically. She becomes “all jagged lines and sharp edges—a sketch from a Gothic novel” (97).