Point of View

Anil’s Ghost employs a third person omniscient point of view, allowing the reader to see into the minds of many of its characters and giving the novel its sweeping, panoramic insight into war-torn Sri Lanka in the early 1990s. For example, from Anil’s perspective, the reader inhabits the perspective of a relative outsider coming into Sri Lanka; like many readers, Anil has the ability to draw comparisons between Sri Lanka, on the one hand, and the U.S. and the U.K. on the other. This perspective is partly what makes Anil a fitting and versatile protagonist for the novel. However, each character’s perspective sheds new light on a different facet of the war. Most notably, Gamini Diyasena’s perspective allows the reader to see, up close and in agonizing detail, the horrible physical and bodily impact that the war has on...