Point of View

On Such a Full Sea is told from the perspective of a first person plural narrator representing the residents of B-Mor. The narration stays with the same narrator throughout and is an unreliable narrator.

The narrator describes incidents that were not witnessed firsthand. At times the narrator indicates that the information given is based on rumor. Other times the narrator declares that “we cannot know” for certain what transpired and then continues telling Fan’s story.

While Fan is the central character of the novel, her perspective is not given. The reader only sees Fan’s trials and tribulations through the narrator’s lens. The evolution of Fan to hero status counters the information given about her. The reader cannot know why Fan left or makes the choices she does and what motivates her to do so. Further, it remains possible that Fan never makes...