Point of View

This novel is told from the point of view of a third-person narrator. There is a focus on both Walk and Duchess. Their thoughts, feelings, and emotions are known and described by the narrator; but, the thoughts, feelings, and emotions of the other characters are known only as Walk, Duchess, or the narrator interprets them. Consider for instance the reader’s first introduction to Walk: “Walk stood at the edge of a feverish crowd, some he’d known since his birth, some since theirs” (5). In this example, Walk and the crowd are watching as another house in Cape Haven collapses as a result of the eroding cliff. A few pages later, Duchess is introduced: “She looked on as the medic worked. He did not try a smile and for that she was grateful. He was balding and sweating and maybe tiring of saving those so...