Point of View

The novel is told from multiple points of view with Daria providing consistency as the narrator for most of the novel, with a handful of significant exceptions. The narrator explains early in the novel that she has died and is now witnessing moments from the lives of people whom she hurt while she was alive.

The novel begins from the combined points of view of Ludovica and Daria: the combination serves to reveal the thoughts and inner processes of Ludovica whilst also providing Daria’s interpretation and criticisms of Ludovica’s lifestyle and actions. This use of point of view is made possible by the conceit that Daria is viewing these events from beyond the grave and therefore has a supernatural insight into the points of view of other characters. Although Daria is able to recite the life-histories of characters she did not know (for...