Point of View

This novel is told from the first-person point of view of Paul Tracey, Warren Tracey’s son. Consider the opening sentence: “The tumor in my father’s pancreas was removed last week in an operation that lasted five hours and was more difficult than his surgeons had expected” (1). Paul does not identify himself immediately, but he informs his reader that he is telling the story of his father and their relationship with his reference to “my father” (1). Paul is a biased narrator. He presents Joe in such a way that he appears to be a saint while his father is depicted as being hateful and cruel. It is also obvious, even in the sections where Paul is an adult, that he admires Joe both for his baseball talent and his character.

There are portions of the novel in which the narration appears to be taken...