Point of View

The point-of-view of Our Crooked Hearts shifts through all three parts of the novel and depends on which character is being followed. This creates a unique sense of story that draws attention to the theme of stolen lives, fractured relationships, and guilt depending on what kind of narrator the author chooses.

Part One is told entirely in the first-person point-of-view. It starts with Ivy as she struggles to understand why her mother, Dana, is distant from her and begins to think that Dana has a big secret Ivy cannot understand. This establishes a close relationship with Ivy and her emotional struggles that are best explored through a story told close to her thoughts. The same thing applies to Dana’s point-of-view, which- while also told in first-person- focuses on her reflections of the events that took place with Fee and Marion long before Ivy was...