Comment on language / style

The author uses rhetorical devices to craft a unique omniscient voice for his narrator. The narrator is telling the story, but also using language to help the reader interpret the events of the story. For example, the narrator asks the rhetorical question, “Why does anyone care about hockey?” before explaining exactly why hockey means so much to a character (25). At the beginning of Chapter 18, the narrator states poetically that “Loneliness is an invisible ailment,” before launching into a description of Ramona's pain at the loss of her husband (138).