Point of View

This novel is told by an omniscient third-person narrator. There is no one character of focus since the story involves so many characters spread out over such a large geographical area. The omniscient third-person narrator works well because it does allow Kwan to tell the stories developing in America, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and London without the reader getting attached to any one character. The reader remains emotionally distant from the characters of the story and feels as if he only an observer as the characters go about their lives of wealth and privilege. This distance works well for the novel since there are very few people who could really comprehend the lifestyles these characters live. It would difficult to form an emotional bond between one of these uber-rich characters and the typical reader. Therefore the author makes a good choice by not trying to...