Point of View

Throughout the collection, Chakrabarti occupies the perspective of a large number of characters but deviates from his use of a limited third-person perspective only twice, in "Lost Things" and "Lessons With Father." This consistency allows Chakrabarti to maintain a clear, distinct voice while maintaining a degree of objectivity that becomes necessary to observing the fallibility of his cast of characters. However, the shifting perspectives (the collection includes fifteen) allow Chakrabarti to examine the collection's themes through a number of religious, racial, cultural, and gendered perspectives, granting depth to the novel's claims about said topics.

The choice to present the collection almost entirely through third-person perspectives might at first glance seem a curious one given that each story has a clear-cut central character and is attached to their perspective. The decision not to employ a first-person perspective through much of the collection, however, allows Chakrabarti to...