I would love to know why you hate the characters, because you mentioned something about melodrama, but then you also criticized them for not being emotionally broken up over being raped.
That's a good point. In retrospect, I should have been a lot more careful. When I say melodrama, I mean petty soap opera/ high school drama, and I meant to contrast that with how unaffected they are by an extreme traumatic event. And when I say freaking out for "Bob," I guess for me it's possible to be obviously freaking out but still kind of keeping it together, in a "I just need to keep going" way. So he can freak out without being "melodramatic" in the way I use it.
In general, I think it ties into the lack of companionship/ working together to get through this. Certain characters will remind you of the plot urgency, but their failure to try to work together suggests they don't really care that much.
All in all, much weaker, you're right. I'm an editor not a writer and I suppose that's showing through
