Point of View

Throughout Wandering Souls, the author takes an unconventional approach to point of view. Pin employs both the first and third person perspectives. The majority of the chapters written from the third person point of view trace the main characters Anh’s, Minh’s, and Thanh’s storylines, focusing primarily on Anh’s experience. Other chapters written from the third person perspective include Chapter 4, “Koh Kra Island, Thailand, November 22, 1979,” Chapter 7, “August 2022—Koh Kra Island, Thailand,” Chapter 12, “Operation Wandering Souls: Part I—1967, Vietnam,” Chapter 18, “London, December 30, 2009,” Chapter 25, “Operation Wandering Soul: Part II—1984—Boston, USA,” and Chapter 30, “October 23, 2019, Grays, Essex.” These chapters either trace the experiences of secondary characters, alternate time periods, or present news reports. These derivations in the point of view nuance and deepen Anh’s portions of the narrative. They primarily provide historical context for her story.

The sections of the novel marked with Dao...