Point of View

The American Roommate Experiment is told through first-person narration from Rosie and Lucas’ points of view. Switches in perspective only occur at the start of a new chapter and are clear thanks to the subheadings “Lucas” or “Rosie.” This mode of narration helps build suspense in the novel as neither character realizes the depth of the other’s feelings. Thanks to narration, the reader gets a sense of the characters’ individual traumas, which prevent them from being open and honest with each other.

When it comes to Rosie, her growth as a character is most obvious in her actions and dialogue instead of narration. For instance, Rosie’s thoughts make her seem self-pitying and anxious from beginning to end. At the start of the novel, Rosie feels she is “drowning in pressure” because of her “paralyzing fear” of failing as a writer (70). Toward the end...