Memory

The author enacts his thematic explorations regarding the impact memory has on the individual’s psyche via his unconventional narrative form and third person limited point of view. Rather than organizing the narrative into a series of neat numerical or titled chapters, the author presents the overarching narration in a series of unlabeled fragmented parcels. In this way, he formally enacts his main character Ptolemy Grey’s inability to differentiate between his present reality and his constant onslaught of memories.

The third person limited point of view similarly captures and stylistically enacts the ways in which Ptolemy’s consciousness is constantly disoriented by memory. In one passage from the start of the novel, for example, the narrator says: “Ptolemy could hear fire engines blaring in the distance. There were floods down south and Beethoven was deaf. Dentifrice toothpaste was best for those hard-to-get places. Maude Petit...