Point of View

The novel is set in first-person, switching with each chapter (as well as occasionally within chapters) between first-person singular and first-person plural. The change in point of view is announced by the chapter titles, with odd-numbered chapters all being titled “The Children,” and even-numbered chapters titled with the name of the narrator, who is in each case a member of the Nangi family (in order, Thula, Bongo, Sahel, Yaya, and Juba).

The collective narrator titled “The Children” goes through a transformation over the course of the novel. The Children are the age-mates of Thula, who begins the novel elementary-aged and ends the novel in her forties. This, in their first few chapters, the narrator is also elementary-aged, which affects the diction being used and the perspective being voiced. As the children age, the group referred to as The Children narrows down, ultimately, to a smaller...