Point of View

This novel is told using a first-person narrator, who is also the primary character of the novel, Paul. While many of the characters in the novel undergo significant emotional changes, perhaps most notably Tony, who learns an entirely new approach in dealing with his dogmatic parents, the novel largely focuses on Paul’s personal feelings as he moves through the different events of the novel. Although there is not any substantial evidence that Paul is an unreliable narrator, to the extent that he is misrepresenting or fabricating the events that he is sharing, there is substantial evidence that Paul is not the most accurate reader or assessor of his own thoughts and feelings. Paul views himself as the vibrant and loving center of his school’s social hub. There are many occasions where this is true, but there are also many occasions where Paul succumbs...