Point of View

Roadwork is told in the first person, with the perspective switching between Bart's combined personalities. It is a straightforward read none-the-less, the author having done a great job of drawing the reader into the psyche of this main character. Bart has a complex emotional make up that includes his own personality as well as the vaudeville like character he played with his son Charlie—named George, and since Charlie's death his part in the vaudeville named Fred as well. When Charlie died, Bart didn't grieve the way his wife did. Perhaps that's why she healed to some degree while Bart is now fractured emotionally into these other personalities. At first, they're just voices in his head. George talking to Fred, Fred answering, and it all seems quite harmless, but Bart finds himself stepping out now and then. He goes into the gun shop on his...