Point of View

The novel has three point-of-view characters: Lincoln, Teddy, and Mickey. The narration is written in the past tense and the limited third person. At the beginning of each chapter, the novel shifts to a different point-of-view character, and the chapter heading specifies which character it is. Most of the novel is told through the perspectives of Lincoln and Teddy, both through their experiences on the island in 2015, and their memories of events from their youths. Their perspectives are shaped by their personalities and backgrounds. For example, Teddy is fairly withdrawn, as he fears intimacy, and he believes that the trauma of Jacy’s disappearance contributed to that fear. Meanwhile, Lincoln is married and has children and grandchildren, despite the dysfunction of his relationship with his domineering father.

Chapter 18 is the one chapter that is technically told directly from Mickey’s perspective. This chapter is also...