Harlot's Ghost

What is the author's style in Harlot's Ghost by Norman Mailer?

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Harlot's Ghost is told almost entirely from the point of view of Harry Hubbard. It is written in the first person. However, though Harry tells the story, various other characters also have the chance to narrate sections of the novel, particularly Kittredge, Cal, and Harlot. For the most part, Harry is an extremely reliable narrator; we can trust what he presents to us, except in that his knowledge, as a junior member of the Central Intelligence Agency, is from time to time necessarily limited and so we do not always have the full information about his operations. However, we find out additional information as he does, and, though he has to protect many different secrets and Agency findings, he writes them all down for the reader, as he is ostensibly writing two autobiographies that detail all of his operations with the Agency, as well as his personal life. Harry is for the most part very generous with the details that he shares, even when he is writing to Kittredge and risking a lot by exposing details of sensitive operations. Kittredge is not always as forthcoming and does cover up a lot in her letters, sometimes revealing omissions later on. Cal does not give Harry the full story most of the time, but is upfront about this. Harlot is much more terse and usually only tells us exactly what Harry needs to know at a given point.

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