| Guillaume | Apollinaire | French poet. |
| Mrs. | Brownworth | Addy's teacher. |
| Raymond | Carver | A writer of short stories and poet. |
| Samuel Taylor | Coleridge | British poet, literary critic and philosopher. |
| Shirley | Daigle | Ben's previous best friend. |
| Charles | Dickens | English writer and social critic. |
| Emily | Dickinson | American poet. |
| Bob | Dole | American politician. |
| Mrs. | Easton | A music teacher. |
| William | Faulkner | American writer. |
| F. Scott | Fitzgerald | A short story writer and novelist. |
| Gustave | Flaubert | French writer. |
| Mr. | Franklin | Owner of a grocery store. |
| Théophile | Gautier | French writer. |
| Bui Thj Minh | Giang | Huong's friend. aka: Ba Giang. |
| Father | Hieu | A priest. |
| Wei | Huang | Owner of an Asian grocery store. |
| Andrew | Jackson | Kim-Anh's acquaintance. |
| Jack | Kerouac | American writer. |
| Co | Lam | Tuan's acquaintance. |
| Toby | Landowski | An English teacher. |
| Bruce | Lee | Hong Kong-American actor, martial artist. |
| Miss | Linh | Owner of a nail salon. |
| Chu | Long | Quang's acquaintance. |
| Khánh | Ly | A Vietnamese-American singer. |
| Mr. | Minh | Father Table's acquaintance. |
| Mrs. | Minh | Mr. Minh's wife. |
| Henri | Murger | A French novelist and poet. |
| Mr. | Nagin | New Orleans' mayor. |
| Ong | Nguyen | A fisherman. |
| Flannery | O'Connor | American novelist, short story writer. |
| Édith | Piaf | French singer. |
| Donald | Richard | Tuan's new acquaintance. |
| Arthur | Rimbaud | 19th century French poet. |
| Elaine | Schreiber | An art history professor. |
| Lars | Schreiber | A literature professor at UNO. |
| John | Steinbeck | American writer. |
| Donna | Summer | American singer-songwriter. |
| Ms. | Swason | Tuan's teacher. |
| Adelaide | Toussaint | Ben's friend in school. aka: Addy. |
| Mrs. | Trahan | The remedial English teacher. |
| Paul | Verlaine | French poet. |
| William | Wordsworth | English Romantic poet. |
| Venus | Xtravaganza | American performer, escort, and dancer. |
| Anderson | | Howie's acquaintance. |
| Ashley | | One of Addy's classmates. |
| Binh | | Huong's younger son. aka: Ben. |
| Canh | | A fisherman. |
| Cardigan | | One of professor Lars Schreiber's students. |
| Cong | | Huong's husband. |
| Dinh Fredric | | One of the children Ba Giang's baby sit. |
| Duong | | Ba Giang's cat. |
| Father Table | | New Orleans' priest. |
| Frank | | Kim-Anh's new acquaintance. |
| Georges | | Ben's acquaintance. |
| Howie | | Ben's new acquaintance. |
| Huong | | A Vietnamese immigrant. |
| Huy | | One of Nguyen's son. aka: Joseph. |
| Juan | | Donald's friend. |
| Kim-Anh | | Huong's co-worker. |
| Lan | | Cong's second wife. |
| Margaret | | Donald's stepmother. |
| Mateo | | One of Michel's acquaintances. |
| Michel | | A bookstore boy. |
| Ngoc | | One of the children Ba Giang's baby sit. |
| Odysseus | | Legendary Greek king of Ithaca. |
| Pete | | One of Donald's friends. |
| Quang | | The King of the Southern Boyz's gang. |
| Rings | | One of proffessor Lars Schreiber's students. |
| Sebastian | | Addy's acquaintance. |
| Sergei | | One of Michel's acquaintances. |
| Shannon | | One of Addy's classmates. aka: Shan. |
| Socks | | One of proffessor Lars Schreiber's students. |
| Stella | | Lars Schreiber's student. |
| Tati | | One of proffessor Lars Schreiber's students. |
| Thanh | | Huong's acquaintance. |
| Thao | | Tuan's girlfriend. |
| Tommy | | One of Donald's friends. |
| Toto | | Tuan's frog. |
| Truc | | One of the children Ba Giang's baby sit. |
| Tuan | | Huong's son. |
| Tu-Hung | | Tuan's acquaintance. |
| Veronica | | Georges' acquaintance. |
| Vinh | | A car salesman. |
| Walter | | Donald's dog. |
