Narrators - 2019

Today, I am asking my students to reflect on their favorite narration to help prepare for when we start to read Garth Stein's The Art of Racing in the Rain this weekend. It's a great family story, but it is unique in the sense that it is told from the point of view of the family dog. Their favorite narrator can be a first person narrator that is a character in the novel, or it can just be a novel whose third person perspective is unique or clever.

1. Who is your favorite narrator? What is your favorite narration?
2. Tell readers about the novel and the narration.
3. Why is this your favorite? Why might others appreciate it as well?

One of the best narrations comes from Gentlemen & Players by Joanne Harris. This novel is split between two characters. The first is Roy Straitley, a Classics teacher at the long-established British preparatory school St. Oswald's. Roy is a veteran teacher who has grown bitter in his old age, witnessing the constant changes the school has undertaken. Even more disturbing are the small events and acts of mischief that seem to be growing in nature. Will they eventually build up and lead to the downfall of St. Oswald's? That's what our second narrator hopes. The second narrator's identity is shrouded in mystery. All readers know is that the narrator is out to get revenge on the school for something that happened in the past. And this narrator will stop at nothing to bring down the school. Can Roy figure out who is behind it all? Read and find out!

I enjoy a good split narration novel because it makes the reading experience interesting. When Harris writes, she doesn't spill all of the details at once. Something might be hinted at by one narrator and then fully experienced by the next or vice versa. As each narrator only has a certain set of information, it is up to the reader to piece the story together and figure out the mystery. However, this is made more difficult (and enjoyable) when one of your narrators is purposefully keeping its cards close to its chest. Readers definitely won't figure this story out until the exact moment the narrator wants you to, and that's awesome to me. I think other readers would really appreciate this experience as well, especially students at U of D Jesuit who can relate to the all-male, private school environment.


Want some more interesting narrators?
Click HERE to read my post about Christopher Francis Boone from Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.
Click HERE to read my post about John Dowell from Ford Maddox Ford's The Good Soldier.
Click HERE to read my post about Budo from Matthew Dick's Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend.