Point of View

Elvis Babbitt narrates the novel from a first person perspective. Elvis, while young, is a relatively reliable narrator. She is quite observant and not very self-centered, so the readers receive a wide and honest telling. Unlike traditional first person narration, Elvis is not very introspective. She does not provide a wealth of interiority at moments readers might expect her to, like when she kisses the headstones of children at the cemetery. This moment is absurd, and it takes place at a charged location: a cemetery. Older, more traditional, first person narrators would most likely account for their emotions at a moment like this. Elvis leaves the moment completely unexamined.

Hartnett uses other characters' dialogue to convey information to the readers that the narrator may not understand. In one scene where Vanessa and Elvis tour the zoo, Elvis tells Vanessa, "A male lion copulates over six...