Point of View

In the Acknowledgements and the Introduction of How We Die, Sherwin B. Nuland introduces himself. He announces his intent to converse openly and honestly with the reader. It is in this first person narrative that Sherwin B. Nuland tells his tale.

The first person narrative is intended to show the narrator's direct, or indirect, involvement in the story being told. The author can convey his own emotions, interest, and opinions in this manner. By using the first person narrative there is an intensity added to a story that can be shared by the author with the reader. Sharing his patients' accounts, personal expectations, and professional experiences Dr. Nuland demystifies death and the dying process. He advises and instructs; he offers wit and wisdom. This novel presents death and the dying process from the point of view the author has achieved working in excess of forty years...