Point of View

Narrative sections of After the Rain are written in the third-person point of view from Rachel's perspective. The immediacy of the present tense somewhat moderates the restrained, rather distant perspective that protects the reader from the harshest realities of illness and death.

Parts of the book are epistles--Rachel's journal entries and letters to Jeremy. These first-person sections, written in the past tense, provide a clearer voice for Rachel and insight into her deepest thoughts and feelings.

Setting

Rachel lives with her parents in a generic middle-class suburban eastern U.S. community, a mile-and-a-half from Grandpa Izzy's apartment. Their home is far from her brothers Jeremy in New Orleans and Phil in Spokane. Uncle Lenny lives in England, where he has a home in London and a country house.

In Rachel's community, there is public transportation, but no urban strife intrudes on the story. Gangs, inner-city crowding...