First Impressions

[Stephanie]

Post your first impressions to the novel here.  What do you make of our narrator?  Do you think there's a reason why we don't get any personal background early on? 

[Librarian]

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Stephanie wrote:

Post your first impressions to the novel here.  What do you make of our narrator?  Do you think there's a reason why we don't get any personal background early on? 

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Hi-----So far, I don't know anything about the narrator or whether the narrator is a man or woman although  the author is a man. So I must not be far enough in the book. I have seen no personal information about the narrator and I'm on page 97.If there's any reason not to get the narrator's personal background early on, maybe it's to keep our focus on the other characters as they are presented. I was wondering if Tom Mota was too far out to seem realistic. But then I reconsidered that in light of workplace tragedies where people have "snapped". Also, someone else here commented on the use of "we" in the narration.  That's an interesting comment. I hadn't thought about that until it was mentioned.

Librarian

[Stephanie]

Librarian,

True, the narration is first-person plural- but there is a distinct feeling that there is an unseen unknown single person talking about "us" using the pronoun "we" that we never get to know.   As I near the end of the read, I'm finding that is the question which is uppermost in my mind.  Who is this narrator?  Frustrating, because I fear I'm not going to find out. 

[Kat727]

starting the book i liked the fact that you don't get any info on the narrator, i like that it made you feel like you could be the narrator and it really made the other characters stand out. plus it was a new experience because i've never read a book like that before.

[Stephanie]

Kat,

Good point, I think the 'we' was intended to make the reader feel as if s/he worked at the agency as well. 

Have you finished the book yet? 

[Kat727]

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Stephanie wrote:

Kat,

Good point, I think the 'we' was intended to make the reader feel as if s/he worked at the agency as well. 

Have you finished the book yet? 

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Stephanie,

i have finished the book and i absolutely loved it.

[shannonsteiner]

I finished the book and loved the end. Your question about the narrator will be answered!

[Stephanie]

Shannon,

I've finished the book too, and if that was the answer to my narrator question, it was woefully inadequate! 

Perhaps there's something I'm not getting?