Point of View

The novel’s narration is written in the past tense and generally employs a limited third-person narrator, meaning the narration usually adheres to the perspective of one character at any given time. However, the perspective often shifts between characters, sometimes even within single chapters. Point-of-view characters in the novel include Futaki, Irimiàs, the doctor, Esti, the landlord, and other members of the village. This adherence of perspective to those of individual characters emphasizes the narrative undercurrent of the struggle to understand truth and one’s surroundings. Every character in the novel struggles to have a true understanding of the events governing their world and lives, and the narration never gives any information to the reader that it does not give to at least one of the characters.

On the other hand, the reader is privy to the collective perspectives of each character, meaning while...