Mark Medoff: The Comfort of First Love and the Cost of Settling

Overview

Mark Medoff is Abby Stern’s childhood sweetheart from Camp Golden Hills, where both were overweight teenagers who found acceptance in each other. As an adult, Mark becomes a successful podiatrist, undergoes gastric bypass surgery, and maintains a disciplined fitness routine. He represents the stable, conventional future that Abby’s mother and society expect her to embrace—a path that offers comfort, approval, and security but also threatens Abby’s autonomy and desire for authentic self-discovery.

Plot Role

Mark functions as the “safe” option in Abby’s romantic and life choices. He reappears in her life after she graduates college, just when she is floundering professionally and personally. Their courtship proceeds along a predictable arc: gentle dating, physical intimacy, and Mark’s suggestion that Abby move in when her lease ends. This proposal triggers Abby’s panic and ultimately leads her to accept the Breakaway bike tour as a way to gain space and clarity. Mark’s presence haunts the trip: he sends care packages, appears briefly when Abby’s mother Eileen arrives, and remains the benchmark against which Abby measures Sebastian. His final scene—arriving at the tour’s end to plead for Abby—underscores his unwillingness to let go, yet Abby chooses to break away.

Motivations and Traits Shown Through Actions

Mark’s primary motivation is love for Abby—genuine, protective, and rooted in their shared history. At camp, he smuggled snacks and gave her his Yankees sweatshirt, making her feel “like no bad thing could hurt her.” As an adult, he continues to show devotion: he remembers her favorite foods, calls her mother to check in, and proposes moving in with the assumption that marriage and family are the natural next steps.

His traits are revealed through actions:

• Gentleness and consideration: In bed, he asks for consent and checks in frequently, wanting to ensure Abby’s pleasure.
• Discipline and fear of relapse: Mark runs six miles daily in any weather; he is terrified of regaining the weight he lost. This reflects his internalized shame about his former body—a shame he projects onto Abby only indirectly, by never commenting on her size but by controlling his own.
• Conventionality: His apartment looks like a “grown-up’s home” with coordinated furniture, while Abby’s is cluttered and temporary. He values order, predictability, and the milestones of adult life.
• Loyalty: He remains faithful to Abby and refuses to acknowledge the social disapproval they face as a mismatched couple. He does not notice when women stare at him—or at Abby—because he only has eyes for her.

Chronological Arc

1. Age thirteen: Mark first meets Abby at Camp Golden Hills. He is overweight, wearing a sweatshirt to hide his body, and feels low status. Abby approaches him, and he falls instantly in love. Their three summers together include first kisses, sexual exploration, and constant support. Mark loses fifty pounds that first summer but never looks at other girls.
2. Age sixteen: Abby breaks up with Mark over the phone after being asked to Homecoming by a senior. He takes the news with quiet sadness, not surprise. They remain connected on social media, but Abby mutes him.
3. Adult years: After college, Mark becomes a podiatrist in California, undergoes gastric bypass, and moves to Philadelphia for a volunteer clinic. He reunites with Abby at Camp Kensington, where she works as a counselor. Their courtship is slow and deliberate. Over several dates, Mark is respectful, never rushing physical intimacy.
4. Present of the novel: Abby and Mark have been dating for a few months when he suggests moving in together. Abby panics and leaves for a two-week bike tour. During the tour, Mark calls and texts; he sends a care package. He arrives at the tour’s end in Niagara Falls, but Abby breaks up with him in private. The separation is final.
5. One year later: Abbreviated—Mark is not mentioned again; Abby has moved on, building her own life.

Relationships

• With Abby: Mark’s love is unconditional, but it is also conditional on a shared vision of comfort and stability. Abby feels safe with him, but she also feels “predestined” and trapped. Their physical intimacy is good, but she cannot stop comparing it to the electric connection with Sebastian.
• With Eileen (Abby’s mother): Eileen adores Mark. He is her “favorite”—a doctor, a mensch, someone who fits her ideal of what Abby should want. This approval pressures Abby further, as Eileen’s own body-shaming history colors her endorsement.
• With Sebastian: Mark never directly interacts with Sebastian, but the reader sees him as a contrast. Sebastian represents risk, spontaneity, and shared imperfection; Mark represents safety and predetermined success.

Key Decisions and Consequences

Theme and Symbol Connections

Mark embodies the theme of body image and self-acceptance. His weight loss and fear of relapse show how the camp’s emphasis on thinness left lasting scars. He cannot let his guard down; even his romantic tenderness is structured. He also connects to breaking free from societal expectations—Abby’s refusal to marry him is her refusal to live the life her mother and society prescribe.

Symbolically, Mark’s apartment—furnished, orderly, grown-up—represents the “carriage with luxurious fittings” that Abby could step into but that would require her to abandon her own unfinished life. The Yankees sweatshirt he gave her at camp becomes a symbol of the past safety she must outgrow.

5 Book-Specific Questions and Answers

1. Why does Abby feel panic when Mark suggests they move in together? Abby loves Mark but feels their relationship is too “predestined” and comfortable. She worries that moving in will lock her into a future defined by his milestones rather than her own desires, and she is not ready to give up the freedom she feels on a bike.

2. How does Mark react when Abby breaks up with him? He is devastated but not angry. He accepts her decision with the same quiet sadness he showed when they were sixteen, suggesting he always sensed she might outgrow him.

3. What does the gold-toned skin and “Greek sculpture” description of Mark’s body convey? It emphasizes how radically he has changed since camp, but also how his physical transformation conceals his continuing insecurity. He looks perfect but feels fragile—his discipline is a mask.

4. Why does Mark run in every weather, even polar vortexes? He is terrified of regaining the weight he lost. Missing one run feels like the first step back to his former body. This reveals that his own body image struggle is unresolved, despite his external success.

5. How does Mark’s relationship with Eileen affect Abby’s decision? Eileen’s approval of Mark pressures Abby to follow the “right” path. When Eileen later reveals her own secret weight-loss surgery and apologizes for projecting shame, Abby gains permission to choose her own way—which does not include Mark.

Conclusion

Mark Medoff is a lovingly drawn character who represents both the best and worst of a comfortable relationship: devotion, security, and mutual history, but also constraint, predictable roles, and unexamined fear. Abby’s choice to break away from him is not a rejection of his worth but a wholehearted embrace of her own. His arc serves as a foil to her journey toward self-determination, making him an essential figure in the novel’s exploration of love, choice, and the courage to become oneself.

For deeper reading, explore related themes: body image and self-acceptance, reproductive autonomy and secrecy, mother-daughter relationships, search for authentic connection, and breaking free from societal expectations. Also see the ending explained and questions and answers.