Point of View

A Country You Can Leave is written from the main character Lara’s first person point of view. This means that Lara’s distinct voice renders and guides the narrative from beginning to end. By writing the novel from her protagonist’s first person perspective, the author is formally granting Lara agency and authority over her own story. In Part I, Chapter 1, Lara indeed asserts that although she has been “the inextricable daughter” throughout her life thus far, as she and her mother “arrive at the Oasis during this Indian summer,” Lara is “ready for the grip of longing to finally loosen” (11, 12). Lara knows the particular ardency with which she has attached herself to her mother over the years. However, at 16 years old, she also knows that she is prepared to assert and thus to define herself outside the context of her mother. Writing A...