Point of View

One of the most interesting and effective structural elements of Good Company is the way author Sweeney offers multiple third person perspectives to establish key plot or character points and broaden the reader's view of the twenty-plus year sweep of conflict-generating events. While most of the novel is narrated through Flora's eyes, Margot's point of view is also featured throughout the past and present, as is Ruby's, Julian's, David's, Maude's, and even Sydney Bloom's. Each of the multiple perspectives is weighted with equivalent regard as far as the omniscience with which the narrative strands peer into the characters' psychology, emotions, and memories throughout time.

For Sydney, who is recalled by Margot, Flora and Julian himself as reprehensible and pathetic, her point-of-view in Chapter 17 lets the reader in on how she feels Julian's lame effort to hide the fact of his marriage, which Sydney considers “disrespectful...