O'Hara's use of the novella form influences both the tone and the perspective of Sermons and Soda-Water. One of the common characteristics of the novella is the use of a narrator whose limited interaction with the other characters necessarily limits the reader's knowledge of them to only those moments of greatest drama or conflict.

Instead of the panoramic sweep of the typical O'Hara novel, in which a central character is presented through multiple points of view, the novellas offer glimpses of characters at widelyspaced intervals, so that character development is suggestive rather than exhaustive. The narrator, Jim Malloy, makes this approach explicit in "Imagine Kissing Pete," when he remarks, "Such additions I made to my friends' dossiers as I heard about them from time to time; by letters from them, conversations with my mother, an occasional newspaper clipping." This technique enhances the tone of nostalgic memory and makes...