Point of View

Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis tell their novel The Boy in the Suitcase from the third-person narrative point of view. The third-person mode of narration is used here to follow the actions of multiple characters in multiple places and to follow multiple plots which ultimately tie together. The narration serves as a unifying voice for the disparate ends of the story, weaving them together. Because of this, the reader is able to follow each of the characters individually and independently of one another, knowing things that the characters themselves do not know about each other, or the situation as it unfolds. For example, Nina does not know whom she has been kidnapped by –but the reader knows the kidnapper is Jucas. Likewise, Nina does not know that the boy she has found is Mikas, but the reader does know this.

Language and Meaning

Lene Kaaberbol...