The Last Song of Sirit Byar has a "framed" narrative, that is, a narrative in which the main story is told in an outer narrative, or frame. The frame is created by the voice of Mircha Del, whose motivation is to leave for posterity an account of her life with Sirit Byar. She is a lively storyteller, and her wry comments often intrude on the main narrative, reminding the reader that the story is told from an unabashedly biased point of view. Moreover, Mircha Del is an interest ing character whose comments reveal much about her cynical, rough-hewn personality.

The frame of The Last Song of Sirit Byar allows for comparisons between the teenage Mircha Del in the main narrative and the mature woman in the frame. One can see in the young woman's experiences, from having sex to carrying a heavy musical instrument, the elements...