Point of View

The novel is written from the third person point of view. This third person narrator, however, does not assume an omniscient stance. Instead, the narrator inhabits the main character Henry's psyche throughout the novel, thus tracing his difficulties from childhood through adulthood. The author establishes this close relationship between the narrator and Henry in the opening chapter of the novel, "$89.34." In the chapter's second paragraph, the narrator says, "Henry's thoughts scroll through a reverse inventory, its sum a taunt. The absentee list of birthday paraphernalia—balloons and streamers, candles and cake, a pile of presents, a pack of friends, a mother—seems to etch itself into the graffitied bathroom mirror" (3). Then, throughout the passages that follow, the narrator's overt references to Henry's thoughts and feelings dissipate, and are instead presented as overarching narrative truths. For example, in the chapter immediately following, "$89.59," while Henry and Junior...