What is Lenny’s perspective?

The novel is told from Lenny’s first-person point of view. The action is narrated in the present tense. However, at times Lenny also speaks from the perspective of 40 years later. The things she knows are impossible for Lenny to have known as a little girl in the 1940s. The only section not told from Lenny’s perspective is “Ranna’s Story” in Chapter 25. This is also the only part of the book in the past tense.

Due to Lenny's age the novel's language swings between a humorous and anxious tone. The mood is foreboding and dark as the Partition of India slowly approaches and violence begins.