Point of View

Hugh Howey tells his novel “Shift” in the third-person limited-omniscient narrative mode from the point of view of an unknown and unnamed narrator. This is done for at least two reasons. First, the third-person aspect of the narrative allows Howey to tell a story that involves numerous characters and takes place across hundreds of years. The third-person narrator acts as a common, unifying thread between all of the stories, guiding the reader between the general plot and several subplots. This is important as in each section of the novel as two plots are intertwined with one another in an alternating fashion. Second, the limited-omniscient aspect adds a sense of suspense and drama to the novel, as the reader only knows about events as they unfold and are informed by the characters themselves.

Language and Meaning

Hugh Howey tells his novel “Shift” in language that is...