Structure

Dosa structures his book around his growing appreciation of Oscar and Oscar’s relationship with the patients at Steere House. Generally, the book moves linearly from the time Dosa is first told about Oscar’s apparent ability to predict death to his willingness to listen to Oscar when Oscar notes that a patient is near death. Through the course of the book, there are some flashbacks as Dosa remembers the first time he met a certain patient or as he recounts some background about the nursing home.

Exposition is given throughout the story as Dosa learns more about Oscar’s role in his patients’ lives and the struggles of living with Alzheimer’s. The true plot points of a story can be found in the story that Dosa includes about the relationship between Frank and Ruth. In this story, the exposition comes as Dosa tests Ruth during...