Point of View

For the most part, the story is told from the first person, past tense point of view – specifically, that of protagonist and narrator Sean Phillips. The narrative focuses on his experiences, his perspectives, his choices, thoughts, actions, and reactions. There are a few points to note about how the author shapes this point of view: the first is how fragmented narration is, with Sean’s thoughts and memories flipping back and forth in a way that is so stream-of-conscious (i.e. thoughts being presented on the page in the same way as they seem to occur in the human mind, often without obvious connection) that it sometimes comes across as incoherent and difficult to follow. The second point to note about this particular variation on first person point of view has a thematic element – elements of several themes, in fact, having to do with perceptions...