Point of View

The novel is told in a mix of first person and third person, from the points of view of many different narrators. Because of this, the reader experiences the story from different perspectives, learns secrets, and enters the minds of diverse characters. It makes the novel feel surreal and disjointed, but it also provides a broad picture of Comala and of don Pedro's life.

The first major narrator is Juan, who begins the story. Juan tells the story as an outsider coming to Comala, so he gives the reader a view of the wreckage that don Pedro leaves behind in the town. Juan tells the story to Dorotea as they lie in their joint grave, and Juan hears the stories of ghosts haunting Comala and the dead lying in the ground. As a narrator, Juan gives the reader a picture of the town itself and don...