The novel’s chief protagonist and first-person narrator, Ruth Grey, is a dynamic character who transforms appreciably throughout the course of the novel. She is characterized by means of her own narration. She describes her physical appearance in unkind terms:

My eyes are squinched together; they’re small and gray and they don’t open all the way wide. My mouth isn't too much better off. It’s tight like a closed drawstring laundry bag. There’s nothing special about my nose: it’s small and sits on my face like someone set it down and forgot to come back for it (12).

She has “quite a bit of curly hair which looks like a hedgerow people can’t see over” (247). When the local ne’er-do-well Ruby Dahl falls for Ruth, she notes that “he was the first man in the history of the universe that noticed my feminine lure” (127).

Ruth never had a father figure in life, owing to her father’s abandoning the family when Ruth was only 10 years old. Ruth is not shown much maternal affection by her mother May, who disparages Ruth in her actions and words. Ruth claims that May doesn’t think Ruth’s brain functions properly, though it’s clear Ruth’s skill is of a literary nature and is overshadowed by her brother Matt’s more “practical” academic studies.