Point of View

As What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours consists of nine different stories, the point of view varies from story to story. “books and roses” is told in the third-person, though the perspective often closely follows Montserrat’s perspective; the reader does not know anything that Montserrat does not. This helps preserve some of the sense of magic and mystery surrounding Montserrat’s origins.

At other times, Oyeyemi uses the first-person perspective to help guide the reader towards an understanding of a character’s identity in a gentler, more natural way. In the same way that being gay is just a part of a person’s identity, not something that consumes every moment of thought, the first person perspective of “‘sorry’ does not sweeten her tea” helps ease the reader towards the revelation that the narrator, Anton, is a man in a relationship with another...