What is the author's tone in the novel, Things We Never Got Over?

Because the novel is written from the first person point of view of two different characters, the language tends to alter depending on who is narrating. Knox had a tough childhood, and he was frequently in trouble with the law and authorities. Because of this, he is rough, and his language follows suit. He uses profanity frequently, both in his thoughts and in his words. He enjoys sex with women, but he does not form romantic or emotional relationships with these women. Therefore, much of his language around sex is crude, and his thoughts would be considered inappropriate if spoken aloud in many circumstances. At times, the narration will be going in one direction, when he sees Naomi and thinks crude sexual thoughts about her.

Naomi, on the other hand, is more polite. She is a people-pleaser and wants to take care of people. As such, she often talks about feelings. In the middle of conversations at times, she will stop the conversation and ask people how events made them feel. She is just as sexually attracted to Knox as he is to her, but her thoughts are not portrayed in crass language. She focuses more on how close she wants to be to him. While Knox frequently compliments Naomi on her large vocabulary, her language is not much different than would be expected of an intelligent woman in her thirties. This goes to show that Knox is not used to women like Naomi.