Point of View

The novel is told from the perspective of an omniscient narrator. The narrator uses his omniscient powers often, and we are given insight into more than ten character’s thoughts, motivations, and desires. Because so many characters are given the spotlight, the novel does not come off as biased toward any one character’s opinions, as a first-person narrative or even a more traditional third-person omniscient is apt to do. Instead, the novel almost reads like a police report, where everyone’s experience is given equal, almost clinical consideration.

Language and Meaning

While the narrative structure of the novel takes on a stream of consciousness flow at times, floating from one subject to another, one place to another, one time to another, the language is not as organic. The language of the novel is, for the most part, stiff and formal. The narrator’s diction...