Life is Not Linear
In the prologue a first-person narrator who is not yet identified initiates what will be a recurrence of philosophical musing in those parts of the book featuring first-person narration. “We’re always in the middle; wherever we stand, we see only partially,” is just one small excerpt from what amounts to a thesis on the non-linearity of existence. The book that follows moves back and forth over time and distance. Even the perspective of storytelling, as indicated, undergoes multiples shifts. The past is always carries the threat of adding unknown information or contradicting longstanding “truths” that were not factually accurate. As the multiple characters play out their lives with great historical events happening in the background it becomes increasingly clear that though history has informed their biographies it has not defined them.
Biographical Lifesaving
The first-person narrator in the prologue turns out to be a woman named Chloe, a late generational offspring of characters whose lives in the past take front and center. In that prologue she asserts two important things: she is a writer and she wants to save lives. More precisely, she corrects herself, she wants to save life itself. Saving lives cannot happen on a linear timeline. Once dead, the living cannot ever be resurrected. The third-person perspectives which make up the bulk of the novel inevitably come to be seen as the handiwork of Chloe just as much as her first-person autobiographical sections. Through the act of inserting biography into a work of fiction, it becomes possible to save the life of those who would otherwise be forgotten. Chloe often addresses the philosophical concept of Death as well as the literal act of dying and this deep focus is integral to the novel’s pursuit of the theme of the possibility of cheating death in a manner of speaking.
Home, History, and Heritage
Chapter subtitles indicate a date and location. For instance, “January 1963, Switzerland” is followed by “July 1974, Sydney, Australia.” In this particular example a chapter narrated in the third-person is followed by one of Chloe’s first-person accounts. This non-linear structure of the story reflects back to Chloe’s assertion that life is always in a state of uncertain flux. The history of what is happening in the world at large shifts with each change in chapter and the fact that they are chronologically disordered points to an underlying theme about how history impacts one’s heritage. The major historical events connected to the dates feature a common bond of dislocation, occupation, and rebellion. The novel—or to be more precise, Chloe—is asking what impact the past has on the future. The non-linear connections between characters at different ages and times and places in their lives points out how the strangeness of historical events impacting individual lives in a multitude of different ways and degrees.
