Point of View

First person point of view is absolutely essential for the credibility of both the story line and the general tone. The tale of Winter Santiaga, as told by Winter Santiaga, is a compelling and tragic one, but the reader could not have grasped the complete picture of Winter without the intimate view of her innermost thoughts, as she grew into adulthood and made choices which ultimately led to her fall and imprisonment. The ability to ":see" her thought processes as she moved from an affluent and indulged childhood, to street-smart adolescent homelessness, to havens which she rejected, provide the reader an understanding of the culture of ghetto poverty. While Winter was removed from the ghetto, the ghetto was never removed from her, and it is in her thought processes and the clear view of her inner values that her story rings true. When the family property...