Point of View

The novel is narrated from Jas Mulder's first person point of view. Jas narrates the Part I from her 10-year-old vantage. She then narrates Parts II and III as a 12-year-old. Her childlike vantage lends an innocent associative tone to the narrative atmosphere and progression. Instead of adhering to traditional storied models, Jas's point of view relies on observation, questioning, and references to Biblical passages, familial myths, and farmyard anecdotes. Her first person perspective allows the reader entrance into her particular mode of seeing, interpreting, and narrating the world.

Though Jas is exposed to a series of significant traumas and losses, including the death of older brother Matthies at the start of the novel, she does not convey her grief in the same way an adult individual might. Rather than adhering to a neat grieving process, Jas works to reconcile the loss of brother by...