Point of View

The novel’s narration is written mostly in the present tense and utilizes both first-person and third-person narration. In Chapter 1, the novel reserves third-person narration for Toothwort, but it is close third-person, meaning the reader has access to Toothwort’s thoughts and emotions via narrational exposition. Meanwhile, the other point-of-view characters—Jolie, Robert, and Pete—narrate their own stories using first-person narration. The novel relies heavily on this first-person narration to establish the worries, fears, and challenges of these three central characters. Meanwhile, Lanny’s perspective is never given directly to the reader. It is instead mediated through the other characters’ interactions with Lanny, as Lanny expresses his own hopes, fears, thoughts, and emotions. In this way, the novel juxtaposes direct expression of one’s inner life with mediated expression.

The novel also seeks to explore the idea of communal perspective, for the book uses...