Son of a respectable Knoxville family who has rejected his background to live on a houseboat on the Tennessee River, fishing and drinking among the outcasts and drifters of the city's underworld. The novel follows his years on the river with dark comedy and genuine tenderness. He is both participant and observer, never fully belonging to the world he has chosen.

An enormous black man who runs a riverside establishment near Suttree's houseboat - part tavern, part after-hours gathering place. He calls Suttree "Youngblood" and presides over his dim domain with quiet authority.

A red-headed, gap-toothed tough from the McAnally Flats neighbourhood. Recently released from the workhouse, he is brash, fearless, and quick with his fists, often the instigator or enthusiastic participant in barroom brawls.

A blind man who frequents the Huddle bar, recognisable by his wet green teeth and squinted lids over blown-out eyeballs. Despite his blindness he is a regular fixture in the McAnally social scene.

A member of Suttree's McAnally Flats drinking circle, recognisable by his dark, anthracite eyes. He is a quiet presence among the louder personalities of the group.

A member of the McAnally Flats drinking circle, known for his crude humour and rowdy behaviour. He once beat a morals charge through audacious means, according to local legend.

An elderly railroader who lives in an old caboose near the river. He wears a striped engineer's cap and carries an enormous pocket watch. A kindly neighbour to Suttree, he is full of stories about trains and railroad disasters.

A black woman who tends the door at Ab Jones's establishment. She tends to Suttree's injuries after he is hit in the head with a rock.

A scrawny, illiterate eighteen-year-old country boy sent to the workhouse for his misadventures in a watermelon patch, where he was shot with a shotgun. Small and feral, he possesses boundless energy and a talent for harebrained schemes. He arrives in Knoxville after his release, determined to make his fortune.

A heavy-drinking junkman who runs a small salvage lot by the river. He is quarrelsome with his family and prone to late-night drunken wanderings.

A freckle-faced, towheaded young man from the McAnally Flats neighbourhood. Jaunty and mischievous, he runs punchboards and frequently finds himself in trouble with the law and with the locals.

One of Suttree's closest friends and a regular of the McAnally Flats drinking circle. A boisterous, hard-drinking man given to outrageous behaviour, he serves as a link between Suttree and the wider community of Knoxville lowlifes.

An acquaintance from the McAnally Flats neighbourhood who told Uncle John where to find Suttree's houseboat. He features in Hoghead's stories of misadventures.

A prostitute from Chicago who is travelling through the South to avoid an indictment. She is warm, witty, and generous, and begins a passionate relationship with Suttree.

A pale, pimpled young man who frequents the Huddle bar. He is involved in various petty hustles and once sold his mother's refrigerator while drunk. He approaches Suttree with a grotesque problem involving his deceased father.

An old fishmonger who operates a stall in the Knoxville Market Street markethouse. He buys Suttree's catfish and carp, always asking for the small channel cats his customers want.

A black man from the Front Street neighbourhood, a regular at Howard Clevinger's store and a fixture of the local community. He is cool-headed and socially adept, capable of defusing tense situations with easy charm.

A white derelict who works as a handyman and doorkeeper at Ab Jones's riverside establishment. He has twisted legs and hobbles about with a broom, begging coins from acquaintances when encountered uptown.

An old black coal pedlar who delivers coal through the streets of Knoxville from a horse-drawn wagon in the early morning hours. His horse is named Golgotha. He keeps meticulous accounts in his head and stores his coins in a long gray sock worn beneath his clothing.

Suttree's uncle on his father's side, a lonely man with a drinking problem and a failing liver. He visits Suttree's houseboat after learning of his whereabouts, trying to maintain a tenuous family connection while estranged from the rest of the family himself.