comment on structure

The novel is split into 55 chapters and an epilogue. It starts with a short mention of Clover’s first experience with death in kindergarten to establish the biggest reason why she becomes a successful death doula much later in life. From there, the story continues mostly in chronological order over the course of a few months. This creates a sense of urgency that becomes even more important when Clover first meets Claudia and learns that she has very little time left to live. The only major break in the present day timeline is at the very end which skips to one month after Claudia’s death before Clover leaves for her trip around the world. Then, the epilogue continues three months later to show Clover and Hugo reuniting on the same island that Claudia and her love had their first adventure. Both of these are important for the resolution to the novel and their impact would have been lost if the time skip had not happened.