Point of View

The novel is told from the first person point of view of Leah Catherine Burke, a senior at Creekwood High School. Her high school is set not far from Athens, Georgia. Leah’s point of view is very dramatic, filled with teenage sarcasm, judgement, and anxiety. Leah has both a high standard for her friends and herself. The only exception to this perspective is the final chapter, Chapter 35, which is an email from Leah to her friend Simon. Albertalli changes that perspective for the last chapter to make it read like an epilogue summing up Leah’s first semester of college.

In order to make Leah’s point of view accessible for the average young adult reader, Albertalli includes contextual references that the reader will understand including copious cell phone use, technology references like Tumblr and Snapchat, and pop-culture references like Harry Potter or Nicki...