Point of View

A World of Curiosities is told from the point of view of a third-person omniscient narrator. Consider one quote: “It was the beginning of November when the Chief Inspector first saw Clotilde Arsenault” (2). The narrator refers to all characters in the same way that he refers to Gamache in this quote. Each character is seen from the distance of this narrator who is not involved in the plot of the novel.

The narrator is omniscient, as shown by his mentions of things that some characters see, but others do not. For instance, the night that Gamache confronts the children concerning their plan to kill their mother, “Jean-Guy missed the look in Sam’s eyes as he turned to the Chief Inspector. But Gamache did not. He saw satisfaction. Almost amusement. He saw a challenge” (121). The reader is aware not of just what Gamache is experiencing...