Point of View

The novel is written from the third person point of view. Although the narrative traces the lives and experiences of three unique main characters, Akira, Owen, and Natalie, all of their sections are guided by the same narrative voice. The author takes this approach to point of view in order to convey and underscore his explorations regarding interconnection and solidarity. Indeed, in the novel’s final section “Washington, D.C. Epilogue,” while “attending the Kids Against Climate Change rally,” Akira, Owen, and Natalie realize that they are “each connected by just one person," or just “two degrees of separation” (364, Gratz’s italics). Their lives and stories appear separate throughout the novel, but in reality, Akira, Owen, and Natalie are all members of the same narrative world. The common third person narrator, therefore, enacts this dynamic.

Throughout the novel, the third person narrator consistently inhabits the...