Point of View

The point of view of the novel shifts with the start of each chapter. Overall, the plot is told through the eyes of the typists, Olga, Irina, Sally, and an unnamed narrator limited to Boris and Sergio. Shifting perspectives often signals that many voices are necessary to portray the story in full. Invoking the perspectives of people from both the Western and Eastern parts of the world pulls a common thread of humanity through their drastically different life experiences.

The female voices in the novel are most prominent and always evoked in the first person. Allowing the women—Olga, the typists, Sally, and Irina—to express their personal experiences validates the importance and complexity of women in a historical moment that chose to overlook their accomplishments and contributions. The women share the added perspective of hindsight by telling their story in the past tense, invoking...