Loss and Grief

By entangling the first and third person narratives of Jane's and Anh's characters throughout the novel, the author is able to craft a complex examination of loss and grief. Although the author does not introduce Jane’s character in scene until Chapter 31, “February 2016—Peckham,” her first person narrative voice appears amidst the third person narrative sections throughout the entirety of the novel. In this way, the author is enacting the concurrent and ongoing nature of both Anh’s and Jane’s loss and sorrow. In the narrative past, Anh is perpetually attempting to quash her grief, because she sees herself as her brothers’ North Star, “the most solid presence in their lives” (39). For this reason, she believes that she has “to be fine” (39). Even after Anh gets married to Tom and starts a family and life of her own, she continues to abide by...