Point of View

The novel is told using first person and third person omniscient. Leo and Alma's narratives are in first person, while Zvi's story is told in third person. It can be inferred that the author chose third person for Zvi because the man was deceased. Later in the novel, Bird's point of view is presented as well, giving the reader insight into Alma's behavior through someone else's eyes.

While all the narrators speak easily and coherently, there is a marked difference in their expression. This difference can be attributed to the fact that the narrators have very different life experiences. Leo is an old man who evaded capture in Nazi-occupied territory, while Alma is a teenage girl born and raised in New York. The narrator that relates Zvi's story is objective and impersonal, which is fitting considering that Zvi could be seen as a sort of villain...