Wish You Were Here

Finn Colson is Diana’s boyfriend and a doctor at the New York-Presbyterian hospital. While originally a resident in surgery, when the pandemic hit, Finn was assigned to the Covid ward along with all the other resident doctors. Finn and Diana met in 2017, and as of the beginning of the book, they have been together for three years.

Like Diana, Finn is a planner. He is also focused and driven, with a clear idea of what he wants from life—the same things as Diana initially does. Both want “successful careers, then two kids, then a restored farmhouse upstate” (16); they have decided the kind of car, pet, and general vacations they will take together; they even have a joint bucket list of dreams, which includes running a marathon, learning how to surf, and visiting “every UNESCO World Heritage Site” (16)—if not for the pandemic, the Galapagos would have been the first one they visited.

Finn’s characterization cannot be looked at separately from Diana’s journey. In the first part of the book, Finn’s character is presented to the reader either incompletely, or secondhand. Except in Chapters 1 and 11, he is present only in Diana’s recollections or through the emails he sends her. Thus, the picture of Finn as a character is dominated by two things: How the place that he has in Diana’s life is built on a foundation of a shared plan of their future together; and how, as a doctor during the pandemic, he is at the frontline of the Covid crisis and is experiencing an unprecedented level of trauma and stress.

When Finn finally enters the picture directly in the second part of the book, both of these things highlight how the relationship between Diana and Finn is fracturing. While Finn’s dreams and plans for the future remain unchanged, Diana’s have changed, which is enough to shake the foundation of their relationship. In addition to this, Finn’s and Diana’s respective experiences with Covid have also impacted them in profoundly different ways.

In some ways, Finn’s character works as both a mirror and foil to Diana’s. The first part of the story consistently focuses on the similarities Diana shares with Finn and how this contributes to the strength of the relationship. However, the different experiences that Finn and Diana go through serve as a fork in the road for how their characters develop from then on—and Finn’s choices and ways of coping directly contrast the ones that Diana adopts. Finn starts drinking more and shutting off, while Diana works on building a daily routine, reconnecting with her mother, and starting to paint again. While Diana is beginning to see the importance of letting go of certain things in her life, Finn seems insecure and afraid, desperate to hold on tighter to everything, including Diana. Ultimately, as Finn’s journey unfolds alongside Diana’s, his character serves to both complement and contrast the protagonist’s own conflicts, choices, and growth throughout the story.

Gabriel Fernandez is one of Diana’s only friends—and eventual love interest—on Isabela. He is a native Galapagueño in his early thirties, and is tall, dark-haired, and dark-eyed. He is a single father to a teenaged daughter, Beatriz. He used to be a tour guide, but he closed down the business after his father died, and he now lives and works on a farm.

Gabriel displays a fierce love of family and a strong sense of duty and responsibility. We see this most prominently in his relationship with Beatriz. Gabriel gave up his dream of becoming a marine biologist for his unborn child when his teenage girlfriend got pregnant. He also allows Beatriz to attend school off the island, even though he hates it, because he thinks it will better Beatriz’s chances of leaving Isabela one day if she wants to.

As dutiful as he is, Gabriel is nevertheless capable of making choices out of love over obligation. From breaking rules (he takes Diana around the island past curfew) to refusing to abide by social norms (he sleeps with Diana although she is in a relationship), Gabriel makes decisions centered on the people he cares about, rather than the circumstances surrounding them. Especially in Beatriz’s case, her happiness takes precedence over everything else—this leads him to consistently choose to do the right thing by his daughter, as well as accept who Beatriz is as a person without second thought. When he finds out what happened with Beatriz and Ana Maria, he is less concerned about Beatriz’s sexuality than about the fact that she has had her heart broken.

Although a fictional character even within the confines of the plot, Gabriel nevertheless plays a significant role—he serves as a guiding light and mirror to the insights that drive Diana’s journey. He is the one who takes Diana around the island and offers information and perspectives on the theory of evolution. He represents, to Diana, the possibility of a different kind of life that is not restricted or dictated by a single plan. He is also the thread that continues to connect her to the memory of her imagined life on Isabela. She continues to mourn him, and their imagined relationship, throughout her process of trying to adapt to reality.