Point of View

An omniscient narrator tells this novel from the third person point of view. The point of view focuses primarily on Emily as she goes through her journey of healing from Paul’s death. The narrator refers to Emily by her given name or by the pronouns “she” or “her.” The omniscient narrator knows all of Emily’s thoughts and actions. However, since the narrator does not know the thoughts of the other characters in the novel, only their actions can be described.

The choice of a third person narrator is interesting in the novel. Emily's story could easily be told from a first person point of view. However, the author might have chosen the third person narrator to keep the reader from being too focused on Emily. The novel lends itself to much more than just Emily's personal story.

Language and Meaning

As this book...