Point of View

This novel is written from the point of view of a third-person narrator. Consider a portion of the opening sentence of the novel: “In April, when Samuel Sooleymon was invited to try out for the national team, he was seventeen years old, stood six feet two inches tall …” (3). The narrator refers to Samuel by his given name or the pronoun “he” (3) indicating that someone other than Samuel is narrating the action. The narrator is also omniscient and detached. He has the ability to tell the reader both what is happening in Samuel’s basketball career in America and what is happening with Beatrice and her sons in Uganda. He details the thoughts, feelings, and emotions of all of the characters, but he does not offer his opinion of what is happening or what the people are feeling. The narration mostly follows Samuel with some emphasis...