From: Kathleen Horning <horning>
Date: Wed, 05 Jul 1995 15:58:00 -600

Robin, it's great to hear from someone who's just finished reading WTM and has it all fresh in her mind. There is nothing like the first reading and its definitely an experience that can't be repeated. Reliving it through comments of first-time readers such as yourself is about as close as we can get!

I just reread WTM again over the weekend and I was struck by the manner in which the point of view changes with the second reading. The first time reading it, you're with Sal all the way through, completely aligned with her perspective. After the first time, everything shifts so that the point of view changes from first-person to omniscient. I still haven't quite figured out how Creech managed to do this. Of course, the first-person narrative is quite straight-forward and always true to Sal's perspective, and yet when you read it a second time, you understand things that she notices but doesn't fully absorb. Then you have the third point of view coming into play as Sal is telling Phoebe's story with a limited omniscient point of view. This is used almost as a decoy to detract the reader from thinking too much about Sal's story. And yet, reading it a second time, one really sees how much she comes to accept her situation by understanding what happened to Phoebe. The two stories are completely parallel, even though they're so different.
Received on Wed 05 Jul 1995 04:58:00 PM CDT