Whereas other stories by Munro in Open Secrets (1994) and earlier books are notable for subtle, almost seamless shifts in narrative chronology and perspective, "The Albanian Virgin" is shaped by abrupt breaks in point of view and time, sudden and significant gaps on the page that demand a reader's attention to the shift being signalled. This structure underscores the cultural, historical, and geographic distances separating the contrasting worlds explored in each of the stories within this story.

At the same time working against the obvious abruptness of these perspective and temporal shifts, Munro constructs a subtle narrative in which the two worlds and the two stories interpenetrate. Rather than reinforcing formally the notion of dissimilarity and separateness, the structure of the story underscores the mutuality of these two worlds. Both worlds are shown to be fragmented, divided according to numerous, often interrelated, and inevitably destructive binaries: male-female, knowable-mysterious, ordinary-fantastic...