Point of View

The novel features three different point-of-view characters: Toby, Rachel, and Libby. Toby and Rachel’s perspectives are narrated using the limited third person, while Libby narrates her own experiences in the first persona. The narration always uses the past tense. One could argue that Libby might actually be the sole narrator and that the in-fiction world of the narrative implies that the book itself was actually written by Libby based on her friends’ experiences. This view faces some resistance due to the fact that there are scenes featuring words, thoughts, and events that only non-Libby characters would know, but it is possible that Libby is taking artistic license. Regardless, the potentially simpler way of viewing the novel is that it has three separate perspectives—Toby’s, Rachel’s, and Libby’s—and that the juxtapositions between these perspectives inform the themes and narrative.

The novel...