Point of View

The novel is written from both the first and third person points of view. At different points in the narrative, the first person narrator's identity appears indistinguishable from main character Adam Krug's. However, at other points, the first person narrator emerges as an identity distinct from and in control of Krug's consciousness, experiences, and emotions. In these latter instances, the third person narrator, therefore, might be interpreted as the first person narrator's authorial self rendering Krug's story on the page.

However the reader interprets these perspectival divisions, she might refer to a passage from Chapter 2 for a better understanding. After Krug's wife dies, and he leaves the hospital for home, his emotions uncontrollably consume his body and mind. The narrator says that yielding to his emotions initially grants Krug "what pleasure their was in the act," as well as some "sense of relief" (5). However, this...