Points of View

The story is told in both first and third person. The opening chapters are told in the first person and the narrator is not named. This allows the reader to enter the story without really knowing who or what is going on. The first person is also used at the end of the story, when the author addresses the reader directly. In this case, however, the pronoun I is used to indicate the author, not the narrator.

The majority of the novel is told in the third person. Some of this is told omnisciently, especially in the case of the many hallucinations and commentaries on drugs and sexuality. On the other hand, many sections are starkly lacking in the omniscient narrator and, instead, are told about people and events without any emotional or psychological commentary. This allows the reader to remain distant from many of the...