Point of View

The novel is told through six different third-person perspectives that come together, overlapping in some places, to tell one linear story. The two main point of views are those of Maddie and Jules. Maddie is a sixteen-year-old white girl concerned with impressing boys, fitting in with the popular girls, and experiencing love for the first time. Jules is a middle-aged black Harvard graduate who recently moved to Avalon Island with his white wife and two biracial children. The four other perspectives are those of Leslie, Jules' wife, and three of Maddie's family members, Dom, the Colonel, and Veronica. Each section of narrative is only a few pages long. Maddie and Jules take up the majority of the novel, and Veronica is the next most prominent voice. The wide range of perspectives gives the novel a unique feeling as the reader threads together these various lives...