Point of View

The novel is narrated by a third-person non-exegetic narrator who is always limited to a single character’s point of view. Most of the book is told from Leni’s perspective, but three scenes move over to Matthew’s perspective and one to Cora’s. Each of these scenes that deviate from Leni’s point of view marks a major decision by a character. Leni is quite a reliable judge of character because of her childhood as an observer and peacekeeper, but a reader will always question one character’s dramatic insight into another’s motivations. Instead of allowing room for doubt, the author moves the narrator toward the mind of the decision-making character. When Matthew chooses to return to Kaneq, the reader can see directly how much he has missed Leni and how much her friendship is a factor in his decision to go...