Point of View

The story is told from the point of view of the main character, Casaubon. The novel begins with Casaubon in a museum in Paris, attempting to find his friend Belbo. Most of the novel is composed of flashbacks from the point of view of Casaubon while he waits for a meeting with Belbo's kidnappers in the Parisian museum. Much of the novel involves Casaubon reading from Belbo's computer files and then reminiscing about the events related to the files. This leads to flashbacks within flashbacks that tell the story of Casaubon's life and the details of the events that culminate in Casaubon's search for Belbo in the museum.

Since most of the novel is either flashback or Casaubon thinking about an event in the past, the narrator has some knowledge of the future, but only the future he directly experiences. He is reliable up to an...