Point of View

The novel is written using a limited omniscient point of view. Jimmy Sr. is the character through whom all the action is seen. His thoughts and observations dominate.

The narration is dramatically objective and detached, simply reporting incidents as they unfold. An example is the visit that Jimmy Sr. pays to the bathroom during the Christmas morning get-together at the Reeves' house. He looks around as people sometimes do, and discovers that Bimbo has two electric razors. He picks up the thin yellow one and finds the name 'Girl Care' on it. He thinks it couldn't do much of a job but tries it out by shaving some of the hair on his leg. That night in bed with Veronica, she catches him feeling her legs to see if they were smooth, to see if she shaved them.

Aside from descriptions such as those, and simple...