Point of View

The novel is written from both the first and third-person points of view. The italicized sections of the novel are written from Todd Keane’s first-person perspective, while the plain text portions of the novel are written from a third-person, omniscient narrator’s perspective. In these latter sequences, the third person narrator also employs free indirect discourse, meaning that she has access to many of the primary and secondary characters’ consciousnesses and alternates between presenting the narrative world through their distinct lenses. For example, at the start of the novel, the narrator assumes an omniscient lens as she describes the “crags [that rise] straight up from the waves” on Makatea (27). A few pages later, the narrator inhabits Didier Turi’s consciousness to convey the complexities of his “office [work] in the Town Hall” after he becomes mayor (35). These third-person sections also offer access to Rafi...