Point of View

The collection offers a few different takes on point of view to consider. The first story in the collection, “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone” is a first person narration that closely follows Craig. We have access to his thoughts as he tells us the story of how he grew up from his current position as a 25-year-old looking back on the events with the wisdom of time. “Rat” is similar in that it is a standard third-person past narration that focuses on Drew and his desire to work on his novel in peace.

“Life of Chuck” is a different beast entirely. The story is told in three acts which work backwards in chronological order. Act III, which comes first, is told from a close third person on Marty, an English teacher living in a crumbling world. Toward the end of this act, though, section breaks occur...