Point of View

As noted in “Structure” below, the book’s overall narrative is divided into five parts, each narrated by a different character from a different point of view. The key point to note here is that four of the five chapters consider the same sequence of events – the development of the complicated relationships between Fia, Sara, Inuk, and Arnaq (the female-identified characters: the exception is the chapter narrated by Inuk, the primary male-identified character). This shifting point of view on the same set of circumstances is a stylistic technique often referred to as the “Rashomon” technique, after a Japanese narrative titled “Rashomon” in which the same event is recounted three times, each from a different point of view. The technique offers the reader a chance to consider the meaning of the same event to different characters, given that the different backgrounds, circumstances, and motivations of each...