Point of View

The novel sues a variety of perspectives and narrational modes. The two consistent aspects of the novel’s narration re that it is limited (meaning it only occupies one character’s perspective at any given time) and that it is written in the past tense. Much of the narration is presented in the third person. However, Jane, Jonathan, and adult Adam sometimes narrate in the first person. The novel implies that Jane is narrating her sections in the present day, recalling events from her life to a now adult Adam. All of the perspectival choices give the novel a sense of retrospection, which is appropriate because most of the novel’s events occur in the 1990s and earlier. The sociopolitical content of the novel then encourages the idea that one should look to the past in order to learn from personal and societal mistakes.

The...