Point of View

Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah is narrated in the first person past tense by a character identified simply as Richard. From the author's preface, it is clear the book is semi-autobiographical. Like his narrator, author Richard Bach enjoys taking up passengers for three dollar ride in his antique biplane most summers, and he practices something he calls "cloud-vaporizing." Bach dislikes the painful process of writing and claims he had no plans for any more stories after publishing Jonathan Seagull - until Illusions crashes through his wall, seizes him by the throat, and refuses to let go until he puts it down on paper.

The narrator, Richard, keeps a journal and suggests he has in the past been a writer, but is reticent to write again. Still, after his friend Donald W. Shimoda's sudden and violent death, Richard gives in, and, half asleep, begins recording...