Point of View

The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano is written from Rose Napolitano's first person point of view. By writing the novel from Rose's first person perspective, the author grants the reader access to all of Rose's intimate thoughts and feelings. Indeed, Rose's consciousness drives the narrative tone and structure, and the novel's central thematic explorations. Because the novel is primarily interested in exploring the complications of choosing whether or not to become a mother, the author writes from a young woman's point of view. Rose is at a crossroads in her life, unsure if she should get pregnant and sacrifice her career and her desires "in order to keep [her] husband" (95). The more she considers her options, the more trapped she feels. She obsessively returns to the day she and her husband argued about prenatal vitamins, desperate to rewrite her response and thus provoke "a slightly...