Point of View

The author presents this novel from a first person point of view. It directly addresses the reader. The protagonist, Julia, tells the story as it happened to her. The reader gets comprehensive access to Julia's thoughts and reactions, both spoken and silent. Everyone else's character appears only through Julia's perception of that person. While her motivations are explained, sometimes excused, others are heavily critiqued and sometimes rejected as immoral or unacceptable for other reasons of class or entitlement.

This novel reads almost like a diary or a witness statement. Julia tells the events, as they happen, by way of explaining her actions to the reader. It appears, though, that she never recalls these events for any character in the book, at least not in their entirety. Furthermore, she admits that, when recounting the events to her husband, Sam, she cleans up the story considerably.

Though the...