Point of View

A third party narrates the story, but it is told from the perspective of Nick Guest, the central character. The narrator is the voice of Nick's thoughts and feelings, and the reader experiences the action from Nick's point of view. The narrator is the voice of the author, and the reader gets the sense that the narrator thinks Nick is a decent but misguided fellow. The narrator tells the story through Nick's eyes without being sympathetic.

This story is fiction, and because it is set in the upper class world, the characters are more superficial and less three-dimensional than the average character would be. Nick is trying to fit into the elite class, but since he was raised in the middle class, his actions often seem uncomfortable or unnatural.

Setting

The novel opens at Kensington Park Gardens in affluent Notting Hill, a London suburb. Nick has...