Point of View

"The Truth According to Us" is written with two predominant points of view but three varying perspectives. When the narrative is told from Willa's perspective, Willa acts as a limited first person narrator with the reader learning as she does. The limited third person narrator alternates between sharing the perspectives of Jottie and Layla, allowing access to their thoughts only in the scenes focused on their viewpoint. Overall, both narrators are reliable; while neither narrator is particularly forthcoming, they do not misdirect the readers' beliefs with lies, though superfluous characters are often used as a distraction technique.

Each scene focuses solely on the viewpoint of one of three protagonists in the novel, but Willa is the only first person narrator which allows more access to her thoughts and feelings than is provided to Layla's and Jottie's. The use of these viewpoints is vital for allowing...