The book is told as a collection of personal narratives and therefore uses the first person viewpoint. This view is absolutely vital for the story, in that the entire point of the novel is to show World War II from a variety of angles in an effort to portray the war as it was seen through the eyes of different people in different countries. This view allows the speaker to draw the reader into the story. Biases are conveyed, which help to show the reader the true character of the individual telling the story, which makes the narrative more believable.