Point of View

"Wildwood" is narrated entirely by Lola in the first person omniscient, except for a brief use of the second-person in the first pages. Her narration is comprised of events spanning several years from her perspective, although she frequently quotes others like Mami, Oscar or Tía Rubelka with uncanny mimicry and nuance. Diaz has Lola reveal towards the end of the story that she is in the Dominican Republic, looking back on the events of six months earlier that had been the immediate cause of her relocation. Lola also looks back as far as when she was eight years old and tried unsuccessfully to launch a correspondence with a foreign pen-pal, yet does so with a depth of understanding, sensitivity and eloquence that defy her youth in the story's present time. She is still a young girl of 15 or so, but speaks in a voice...