Point of View

The narrative is written in the past tense it is written from a third-person point of view that moves from the perspective of George, Amanda, and Kumiko through her telling of her story, that of the lady in the cloud and the volcano. This is appropriate given that the novel is not about one person, but is the story of each of these people. In addition, given the theme that stories have multiple truths, the narrative attempts to share the truth of the characters' stories based on the people who are the main characters of their own stories.

It is important to note, however, that even though it is a third-person narrative, the perspective is so close to those of the main characters of George, Amanda, and Kumiko that it can still be unreliable. The narrative brings attention to this point with one of the...