The Refuge is told from three viewpoints, which is a challenge for author and reader alike. Rather than experiencing the story from entirely within one character's viewpoint, the reader is led through a "Rashomon" experience, and asked to perceive the narrative (in which some incidents are repeated) first from Barbara's perspective, then Stan's and, to a small extent, Terry's as well.

Terry Parker is an interesting supporting character. Barbara saw him on the first day in her new neighborhood, and at school, but ignored him until Career Day when he mentions an ambition to be like his father, who works in the City Planning Department. When Stan asks Terry to find out if the rumor is true that the industrial park will be torn down and renewed, Terry swells with pride. Secretly, he has idolized Stan, like a figure in A Tale of Two...