Point of View

The Boatbuilder is told from a third person point of view that most closely follows the protagonist, Berg's, consciousness. While the narrative does not move behind the perspectives of any of the other characters in the novel, it also remains largely at the surface of Berg's experience. The author is, therefore, able to use this distance between the narrator and Berg to prove Berg's disconnection from himself, to illustrate the ways in which he is incapable of engaging his mind with his body, and achieving external and internal balance.

Because the novel centers around Berg's life and experiences, his attempts to overcome his addiction and the pain of his past, the reader might expect that the narrative would more frequently dip into the raw annals of his psychic disturbances. Berg, however, uses emotional repression as a means of separating himself from the ugly facets of...