Point of View

The novel is narrated in a third-person, past-tense point of view. The narrator is objective and omniscient. This lends a sense of distance between the reader and the characters, but simultaneously creates a sense of a diagnostic point of view. The reader is thus prompted to analyze the characters based upon actions, as if they historically happened, rather than on the internal musings each character may have. In conjunction with this, the lack of empathy between the narrator and the characters enhances the objective tone of the story and creates an effect of realism.

This point of view casts all the characters in the same objective lens of observation. For example, Corey - who must contend with tragic circumstances - is described in the same tone as Leonard, whose behavior is often abhorrent and despicable. The objective similarity between the point of view of these...