Point of View

The collection employs a variety of narrational and perspectival modes over the course of the book, with each story remaining generally consistent in terms of its own perspectival construction. Most of the stories use either first-person or third-person narration, with the exception of “Neela: Bhopal, 1984,” which uses second-person narration. Each story generally has one consistent point-of-view character, meaning the reader has access to the thoughts and direct experiences of only one character throughout the story. In many ways, the characters’ perspectives remain somewhat static, as they struggle to overcome specific challenges of grief, loss, or other emotional pain, without any clear means of relief or resolution.

Despite the fact that each story generally has only one point-of-view character, the stories are still able to illustrate other characters’ perspectives via dialogue and interaction. Conflicts in the story often arise from these clashes in perspective. For example...