Point of View

Allegra Goodman tells her novel Kaaterskill Falls from the third-person, omniscient-perspective of an unidentified narrator. This narrator weaves together the distinct stories of various characters, both within and outside of the Kirshner community. The reader is given a privileged vantage point from which every single storyline can be understood. The reader comes to know what is going on in all times at all places, even as the characters themselves do not. This allows for a comprehensive depth that gives readers a deeper understanding of characters and their motivations, and thereby the events the occur as a result of the actions of those characters. Given the nature of the novel as being character-driven, this only makes sense. Readers are able to fully explore those characters through the all-knowing nature of the narrator; and the characters are rendered fully dimensional rather than being cut-rate.

Language and Meaning