Point of View

Kauffman deploys a third-person point of view throughout the novel, but the perspective of this third-person narrator shifts to various characters throughout, including Bette, Henry, Jack, Jim, Lane, Maeve, Sam, Wendy, and Marie's mother. Although certain characters are given more perspective time than others, Kauffman uses this shifting structure to her advantage as a means of avoiding centering one of the Shaw siblings as the novel's main character. Furthermore, the shifting perspectives (and the narrative beats that these shifts allow Kauffman to hit) function as an organizing device for the novel's plot, which is told in non-linear fashion.

The constant shifting of perspectives between chapters without much rhyme or reason allows the novel to adopt a multi-perspectival approach to its subject matter; indeed, as its title promises, the voices of the various Shaws are designed to comprise a kind of chorus. This dappling and layering...