Point of View

The novel’s narration is written in the past tense and uses the limited third person. In other words, the novel occupies one character’s perspective at a time, but none of the characters also function as a narrator. However, the narration does occasionally provide direct insights into the characters’ thoughts and feelings. There are several different point-of-view characters in the novel, including Alisak, Prany, Noi, Auntie, and Khit. These perspectives give the reader insights into very personal experiences that are based in historical facts. Thus, despite the fact that the characters are fictional, their experiences reflect true dynamics as shaped by the history of the Laotian Civil War.

The novel juxtaposes these various character arcs and perspective in order to provide a wider, more overarching historical view in addition to these more personal points of view. Specifically, the characters each have distinct experiences after...