Point of View

The Year of Secret Assignments is told from a variety of first person points of view: Lydia, Emily, Cassie, Charlie, Sebastian, Mr. Thompson. This theoretically means readers are getting a real inside perspectives on the characters' thoughts and feelings. But as Paul Wilson / Matthew Dunlop proves, it is easy to manipulate the truth or lie outright when the writer has full control over what information to include and exclude. Because of this potential manipulation, no one's narrative voice can be considered reliable. The reader (both the characters with the letters and the reader with the novel) may be easily duped by what is written. Readers cannot necessarily trust they are getting the full story in the letters. Everyone is caught up in the game of determining what is fact and what is fiction, and reading between the lines for what important details might be omitted. Readers...