Point of View

Afterlives is written from the third person point of view. This third person narrator assumes an omniscient stance throughout the entirety of the novel. This means that the narrator has access to all events, scenes, eras, and characters from beginning to end. The narrator’s omniscience also means that her descriptions and renderings are not limited to any one character’s point of view. At the same time, the narrator is able to access the main characters’ most private thoughts and feelings, and to present them as part of the narrative world.

Although the narrator does attend to the emotional and psychological interiors of Khalifa, Asha, Hamza, Afiya, and both the younger and older Ilyas, she also presents wide scale information on the surrounding narrative world and climate. For example, in one passage from Part One, Chapter 1, the narrator shifts away from descriptions of Khalifa...