Point of View

The novel is written from both the first and third person points of view. The sections “Preface,” “Braithwaite I: Early Life,” “Braithwaite II: “Oxford,” “Braithwaite III: Kill Your Self,” “Braithwaite IV: A Disturbance at Ainger Road,” “Braithwaite V: Tunneling Out,” and “Postscript to the Second Edition” are written by the fictional author GMB. They therefore employ both GMB’s first person accounts and third person descriptions of “the forgotten 1960s psychotherapist Collins Braithwaite,” his life and career (1). The preface and postscript sections are predominantly dictated by GMB’s first person point of view and pronouns. These sections act as the narrative frame, or bookends. The biographical sections assume a more elevated, academic, and formal tone, as GMB focuses on detailing Braithwaite’s rise to and fall from cultural notoriety.

The sections “The First Notebook,” “The Second Notebook,” “The Third Notebook,” “The Fourth Notebook,” and “The...