Multiple I’s

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World is written in first person, from two viewpoints. I don’t see how the two stories are related just yet, but I expect it will become clear.

Writing two different characters from a first person point of view seems strange. I would be wondering, as a reader, if they were the same character. I only expect that they aren’t, really, because each has a different narrator.

I do notice, though, that neither of the characters is an arrogant prick, which breaks my streak of arrogant jerk first person POV characters. So that’s nice.

I feel like I have something against the first person POV in general, though I’m not entirely sure what. It seems harder for me to suspend my disbelief in a first person story. I think about why this person is telling their story, how they are telling it? Who are they telling it to, and why? How they can remember all these details? Why are they recounting all these details, specifically? And on and on. Somehow, when it’s first person I often find myself focusing more on the idea of ‘someone is telling me a story of something that happened to them’ rather than just enjoying the story.

This novel, though, I haven’t found myself having that trouble. For whatever reason, I haven’t thought much about it being first person. Maybe it’s the relaxed, conversational way the character tells his story. Or maybe it’s just a sign of good writing.

Either way, maybe this novel will make me change my distrust of first person POV…