Point of View

Florence Adler Swims Forever is told through a third person limited narrator. The narrator focuses on describing the thoughts and feelings of a different character each chapter. This especially useful considering that the novel surrounds the tensions of the Adler family, who keep many secrets from one another. It helps the reader understand the motivations behind different characters actions, as well as some of their troubled pasts. This narration style is also useful in showing how different people cope with grief. Some characters who appear unperturbed by Florence’s death, like Gussie, are actually deeply disturbed by it. This is something the reader would not be able to notice otherwise and is thus extremely helpful in building meaningful connections between the reader and Beanland’s characters.

The narrator’s focus changes depending on the character each chapter is named after. All of the Adler family...