Point of View

The novel alternates between the points of view of the three central characters: Kate, Inez, and Bill. The alternating points of view allows the author to make the reader aware of the relationships between the three characters, without the characters themselves becoming aware that they all know each other separately. All three characters suffer from a lack of self-knowledge and tend to perform an invented persona in public rather than presenting their authentic selves to others or to the reader. As a consequence of this, the reader tends to learn more about the characters through chapters told from other people’s perspectives, than from the chapters told from their own perspective. A key example of this is Kate’s belief that she has changed as a person as a result of taking drugs with Inez at a party. Inez announces that the experience will change...