Point of View

The point of view of this novel is first person. The narrator is Paul Lohmann, the brother of a very successful politician and father to a juvenile delinquent. Paul has dinner with his brother, his wife, and his sister-in-law to discuss his son’s crime only to find himself helping his wife cover up everything their son has done.

The point of view of this novel works well with the plot. The novel is written as though Paul is writing down the events of this one night in order to show the reader that he has finally upstaged his brother and done something great. The narration, however, is somewhat unreliable because Paul is a man who suffers from a mental disorder, so he sees things slightly different than most people. Not only this, but Paul’s thoughts and emotions are scattered, difficult to follow at...