Point of View

The novel is told in first-person perspective, through the eyes, ears, and thoughts of fifteen-year-old Mary Alice. Mary Alice is a newcomer to the town, allowing the reader to discover the town and its eccentric residents along with Mary Alice. Mary Alice is a kind of "straight man," a normal girl dealing with her Grandma's strange behavior and the general zaniness of the town.

As a teenager in a strange town, Mary Alice does not have much control over her situation, whether that means enduring one of Grandma's escapades or dealing with catty girls at high school. She suffers through it all with a good-natured grace, making her a very sympathetic character.

Presumably, Mary Alice is writing many years after the incidents related in the book, and so a certain wisdom gained from hindsight pokes its nose into the narrative at certain points. Adult Mary Alice...