# Novels with varied points of view? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 25, 2014, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-varied-points-of-view/702426 "2014-10-25T04:57:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![huitzilopochtli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e99b99/32.png) [@huitzilopochtli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/huitzilopochtli)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-varied-points-of-view/702426/21 "2014-10-25T23:43:14Z")
I’m not sure if these are what you’re looking for but worth a Google I think since they all are told from various points of view but not necessarily in first person. The girl with the dragon tattoo series Mrs. Dalloway (The Hours? as well?) The House of Spirits The Book Thief Tuck Everlasting No Country for Old Men The Help The Secret Life of Bees The Stand Atonement ---
**Author:** ![huitzilopochtli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e99b99/32.png) [@huitzilopochtli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/huitzilopochtli)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-varied-points-of-view/702426/22 "2014-10-25T23:58:43Z")
Sorry, too late to edit. Thinking about it now, I believe I’m wrong about The Secret Life of Bees. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2014, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-varied-points-of-view/702426/23 "2014-10-26T01:01:39Z")
Willkie Collins’s novel “The Woman in White” (one of the great novels of the 19th century, and terribly underrated), where the events are narrated by different people; the section by Count Fusco at the end shows the events from a very different point of view. John Barth’s “Letter,” has letters written by different characters that talk about the same events; the structure of the book means things are not in chronological order. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2014, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-varied-points-of-view/702426/24 "2014-10-26T01:13:34Z")
> [@huitzilopochtli](#): > > Mrs. Dalloway (The Hours? as well?) Also _The Waves_. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2014, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-varied-points-of-view/702426/25 "2014-10-26T01:22:45Z")
A novel I read by Walter F. Murphy, _The Vicar of Christ_, from 1979. The main character is first a Marine officer, then Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, then a monk(following the death of his wife), and then he’s elected Pope. There are three parts told by a Marine sergeant, a Supreme Court Justice, and a member of the College of Cardinals. BTW, the titular character chooses the name Francis as the name he will reign under. It was his father’s name, but since the cardinal telling that part of the story is Italian, he calls him Francesco. ---
**Author:** ![Chicago\_Faucet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chicago_faucet/32/13910_2.png) [@Chicago\_Faucet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicago_Faucet)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2014, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-varied-points-of-view/702426/26 "2014-10-26T01:26:32Z")
“A Maggot” by John Fowles. In this case, the word “maggot” refers to some sort of interrogation or sort of synopsis. John Fowles is better known for his other opus work, “The Magus”, but this “A Maggot” was an interesting investigative read from different perspectives. Oh! If you are looking for different perspectives, then the classic “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” is a classic example of the same story from different perspectives. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2014, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-varied-points-of-view/702426/27 "2014-10-26T01:34:41Z")
Thanks for the recommendations and keep them coming. Wanted to say it doesn’t have to be obvious “unreliable narrators”, just as long as they see things differently. I know there are a ton of intentionally ambiguous single unreliable narrator novels too which wasn’t really what I was looking for. ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2014, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-varied-points-of-view/702426/28 "2014-10-26T01:46:52Z")
_The Time Traveler’s Wife._ Because mucking with time isn’t confusing enough. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2014, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-varied-points-of-view/702426/29 "2014-10-26T02:19:37Z")
Steven Brust’s _ **Orca** _ comes to mind. It alternates back and forth between two viewpoint characters. Trouble is, it’s deep into a very long series (projected 19 books; presently at 14) and while you probably _could_ read it alone, or start the series with it, you’d be missing a LOT. So, if you feel like reading a good half-dozen books to get to it, that’s one for you. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Stonebow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Stonebow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stonebow)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2014, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-varied-points-of-view/702426/30 "2014-10-26T02:39:09Z")
Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. It is hard to pick out in the first book, but becomes more and more pronounced as the series progresses. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2014, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-varied-points-of-view/702426/31 "2014-10-26T05:09:41Z")
And the mountains echoed is told from many pov. ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2014, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-varied-points-of-view/702426/32 "2014-10-26T05:58:37Z")
_The Expedition_ by P O Sundman is a (fairly short) novel, which is essentially a story told twice, chapter for chapter, from the respective viewpoints of two participants with different outlook and different cultural backgrounds. It’s great reading! ---
**Author:** ![danhanegan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb9ed0/32.png) [@danhanegan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danhanegan)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2014, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-varied-points-of-view/702426/33 "2014-10-26T06:06:08Z")
Lois McMaster Bujold has experimented with writing novels with multiple points of view. Bujold has a reputation for extremely good characterization and in my opinion has perhaps the most deft touch with point of view of any author alive. Two novels come to mind. _Ethan of Athos_ is told from two points of view, Ethan of the title and Elli Quinn. _A Civil Campaign_ is more ambitous POV wise, written from four different points of view. These are both science fiction novels written as part of Bujold’s Vorkosigan series. A Civil Campaign isn’t really a good place to start, it depends too much on having read some of the preceding novels. Ethan of Athos is designed as a standalone novel and is easily accessible to someone who has never read Bujold before. I think I ought to warn you that Ethan is homosexual, if that bothers you you might want to skip the book. There aren’t any actual homerotic sex scenes, though. ---
**Author:** ![Scruff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Scruff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruff)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2014, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-varied-points-of-view/702426/34 "2014-10-26T06:23:37Z")
**The Eternity Artifact** by L. E. Modesitt, Jr. It’s a pretty good science fiction story about an expedition to a truly alien world. Each chapter is told from the POV of one of the major characters. It is well done, in my opinion, because you can easily pick who is telling the story by the vocabulary and the sentence structure. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2014, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-varied-points-of-view/702426/35 "2014-10-26T08:55:08Z")
**The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner** by James Hogg does exactly this - it was written in 1824 and has 2 sections, one written by an ‘editor’ who describes a series of crimes from a relatively neutral point of view, and the other written by the religious maniac who carried them out. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2014, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-varied-points-of-view/702426/36 "2014-10-26T18:48:18Z")
Most of the books of P.C. Hodgell’s _Kencyrath_ series do this. The first novel is from the point of view of one young woman, but the second introduces her twin brother. After that, the books switch between the twins’ viewpoints at varying intervals. The sister usually gets more pages, because she’s by far the more active (not to mention disaster-prone) of the two, but the brother gets into his share of shenanigans. Their relationship is complex, they spend a fair amount of time in each other’s heads, and both are often thought to be insane; there are scenes in which the point of view bounces between them quickly or is deliberately muddled. A third major viewpoint character gets a little time in the later books as well, and will probably get more as his connection with the twins grows. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2014, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-varied-points-of-view/702426/37 "2014-10-26T19:30:38Z")
For Bujold, I’d recommend **Mirror Dance** as the book to read to see different characters’ points of view. It’s just two characters, IIRC, but one is a clone of the other. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2014, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-varied-points-of-view/702426/38 "2014-10-28T20:00:22Z")
Hey Nostradamus is told from the points of view of different people during and after a school shooting I believe A Long Way Down is simultaneous (or part of it is) a tale of 4 people planning to commit suicide on New Years Eve running into each other and deciding to try to last a little longer ---
**Author:** ![Clawdio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d07c76/32.png) [@Clawdio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clawdio)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2014, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-varied-points-of-view/702426/39 "2014-10-28T20:37:27Z")
If you’re looking for a long series of novels, _The Malazan Book of the Fallen_ by Steven Erikson does this a lot. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2014, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-varied-points-of-view/702426/40 "2014-10-28T20:50:14Z")
A lot of novelists use multiple points of view. As noted above, George R. R. Martin does it in A Song of Fire and Ice. Harry Turtledove did it throughout his World War series (and its sequels). Frederick Forsythe does it in his novels. In all of these cases it’s not a “Rashomon”-style situation, where each character puts his own “spin” on the situation, but simply a case of telling the story through different characters who might be best suited to explain different aspects. Heck, Bram Stoker did it in Dracula and Wilkie Collins in The Moonstone. It’s got a long history, and while writing teachers might get bent out of shape because the author is destroying the Unity of Vision, as long as it’s clear whose eyes you’re looking through, I’;ve never seen any problem with it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-varied-points-of-view/702426.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/novels-with-varied-points-of-view/702426.md?page=3)