Point of View

The novel is written in first person from the limited perspective of Antonio, who is a teenager during the events of this novel but is looking back on those events from more than 30 years later. Antonio seems to be a reliable narrator. He is intelligent and thoughtful, but he is also young and sometimes naive. For example, he and Father meet two women – Adele and Lucie – in a chance encounter. When the women invite Antonio and Father to a party, Antonio's mind is filled with the possibilities of things that might happen with one of the women. Father points out that they are lesbians, a fact that Antonio had not considered. Father noticed the looks that passed between them and a seemingly casual gesture that he identified as romantic love.

The three days Antonio spends with his father in Marseilles is an eye-opening experience for...