Structure

The novel's structure is complex and serves the narrative purpose of allowing readers to experience the Heather's emotions as well as going back into the past tense to provide a background for her actions. While going into the past, however, the additional background about character's emotions and family connections occasionally allows the characters to be more well-liked as well as revealing more unfavorable aspects of their personalities or past actions.

The novel does not always divide into clear boundaries between the past, perhaps showing the inevitable connection between who Heather is as a mother and her own experience with her mother and various disappointing father figures. There is no way to separate the past from the present. The novel's structure draws heavily on memory and the role of the past as well as unspoken feelings and thoughts on Heather's part influencing the present.

The importance of including...