Narayan is not usually given to elaborate technical experiments or overt display of his artistic skills, but The Guide is one of his few works that draws attention to itself because of its somewhat unusual narrative method.

In telling Raju's story, Narayan alternates third-person and first-person narration and uses such cinematic techniques as flashbacks and jump cuts. When we first encounter Raju, he is about to meet Velan, and he is seen at this point from the perspective of an omniscient narrator. Then Raju takes over the narrative chores and relates his progress from sweetmeat seller to jailbird to Velan. In between, the omniscient narrator punctuates Raju's narrative by showing him dealing with the villagers as a holy man. At the end, Raju ceases to be a narrator as he loses his hold on his consciousness. The omniscient narrator concludes the story, showing us a Raju who is...