Point of View

This novel shifts between first-person and third-person point of view. Ona, one of the youngest Marte women, is the narrator. She describes her own experiences in the first-person, and narrates the lives of her other family members in third-person. Outside of her own narration, Ona explores the perspectives of Flor, Pastora, Matilde, Camila, and Yadi.

The novel is narrated under the guise that this is a novel is written by the narrator Ona. Ona is a professor of anthropology, and within the context of the novel, this book is meant to be an anthropological exploration of one family's dynamics. However, this is not explicitly stated until late in the narrative. This reveal that the novel is a 'book within a book' is a surprising twist that is gradually hinted at. For example, despite Ona being the narrator and referring to herself as "I" later on...