Point of View

The novel is narrated in the first person and the past tense. The novel’s narrative point of view alternates between the perspectives of Irene and Bachhuber. (The only exception is the final chapter, which is narrated by Bachhuber’s son Neil.) The reader therefore has direct access to the thoughts and experiences of Irene and Bachhuber, but not the other characters. In many ways, the character arcs of Irene and Bachhuber are connected in only tangential and incidental fashions, and so this specific perspectival choice helps to illuminate both the important connections and significant divisions between these two halves of the narrative.

The novel also hinges on fundamental changes in these perspectives of these characters. For example, Bachhuber’s perspective changes in terms of his sense of self and his sense of the country where he lives. Throughout the novel, he becomes more in...