Point of View

Alicia Williams has chosen to base her novel on Genesis's point of view exclusively. At first glance, the first-person narrative and timeline give the reader the impression of following a memoir rather than a novel. This impression promotes the reader's emotional investment with Genesis and her plight. Following Genesis's story, the reader cannot help but feel her pain, humiliation, fear, self-doubt, and self-loathing in a very personal way. Williams goes far beyond providing insight, she allows the reader to enter Genesis's mind, hearing her thoughts and experiencing her emotions as they happen in real time or in hindsight. Genesis's mind is populated mostly with memories of negative people, interactions, and events, although happy childhood memories occasionally surface. These serve to make Genesis's current situation even more poignant, emphasizing her sense of loss and abandonment. The reader is privy to Genesis's many inner dialogues in which...