Point of View

The use of point of view is the most distinctive and idiosyncratic feature of the novel. While the central characters are ostensibly Jody and Mice—their relationship, tensions, and personal histories forming the emotional and narrative backbone of the book—the story is told entirely through the first-person perspective of Girtle. This structural decision radically alters the shape and emphasis of the novel, displacing the expected centre and giving narrative control to a marginal, unreliable, and frequently surreal observer.

From the outset, the novel plays with expectations around narration. The opening passages initially appear to be written in the style of third-person omniscience, offering a cool, distanced description of events. Only gradually does it become clear that this is not an impersonal narrator, but Girtle herself, closely following Mice and Jody, watching and recording their actions without their knowledge. Girtle’s position is not neutral...