Point of View

With the exception of the final chapter, All the Water I've Seen is Running is written from the first person point of view of the main character, Daniel Henriquez. The novel's final chapter, "Egypt Sings of Droughts and Floods" breaks the narrative form by presenting Daniel's friend Egypt's first person point of view. Her vantage point provides relief from and perspective on Daniel’s limited rendering of events. However, throughout the first 11 chapters of the novel, Daniel's distinct narrative voice guides the novel from its inciting event, the news of Aubrey's death, through the majority of the narrative plot line. Because Daniel is grieving his friend, his narration is deeply driven by introspection, remembrance, and nostalgia. Indeed, Daniel spends much of the novel "reliving the past," uncertain for what it is he is searching (10). He believes that his emotions over Aubrey's death have to do...