Point of View

The novel is written in the past tense and the limited third person, mostly from the perspective of Lafala. However, the narrative occasionally shifts to the perspectives of other characters, including Aslima, Titin, Babel, and Etienne. The novel occasionally provides direct insights into the characters’ thoughts and feelings. However, the narrative often eschews such insights, even when nominally occupying a specific character’s perspective. The novel also sometimes only gives partial insights. For example, the novel occasionally conveys some of Aslima’s thoughts and feelings, but the truth of her intentions and loyalties remain mostly ambiguous throughout the novel.

Overall, the novel uses personal perspectives and experiences in order to explore larger sociopolitical dynamics. For example, Lafala and Aslima’s backstories are heavily characterized by the destructiveness of colonialism and slavery; Lafala was taken from his family by European missionaries, and Aslima was born into...