Point of View

The novel is told from the first person point of view of Marina. However, she is often recounting the stories of others, so the use of "I" does not always refer to her. Because the story of Charlie's interest in Lovecraft and Barlow is told from Marina's perspective after the fact (she is recounting what happened leading up to Charlie breaking out of a mental hospital), readers get some knowledge that comes with hindsight. For instance, Marina foreshadows that Charlie's obsession might be leading him down a dangerous path, something that might have been less clear if we were following events as they happened.

Although, obviously, we are learning things from Marina's subjective point of view, the narrative does not feel biased. Marina is not an unreliable narrator. Perhaps we sympathize with her more than Charlie because we are exposed to her thoughts and feelings...