Point of View

Girl Walking Backwards is told in the first person, from the point of view of the protagonist, Skye. It is a close first person view, and Skye's strong voice colors the reader's experience of the events. Her vulnerability is balanced by her intelligence, making her a more reliable narrator than might be expected in a book about a teenage girl: Skye admits when she is confused, or doesn't have the answers, and is very clear when she does. The result of this first person narration is an intimate experience of the events of the book, which is needed because of their sometimes violent and sexual nature, which could be hard to understand from an outside perspective. This point of view also highlights Skye's loneliness: especially towards the end of the book, she is not sure where to go and often feels trapped by herself, which may...