Point of View

"The Man Without A Face" by Isabelle Holland is a fictional work and is written in the first-person narrative from the point of view of the protagonist, fourteen-year-old Charles Norstadt. The reader is therefore privy to the thoughts and motivations of the main character as he makes his way through summer vacation at the family's vacation home on the Atlantic coast. The story is one of self-discovery and self-forgiveness within an extremely dysfunctional family. The protagonist feels overwhelmingly compelled to escape his family in order to survive and salvage what's left of his dignity and self-esteem.

Isabelle Holland is the author of a number of other books for both children and adults. The story hints at a budding emotional relationship between Charles and his tutor, Justin McLeod. The author treats the eventual sexual incident between the two males - one a child and the other nearly...