Help Please! Multiple first person

[Imran Omer]

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[Malaika]

The first novel that pops into my head is The Time Traveler's Wife though I have to say, it wasn't always effective. In my opinion the two voices narrating were not distinct from each other. But sometimes you learn more from the failures you read than the successes so I do still suggest reading it.

 

[Webbwalker]

Lots of David Mitchell's books have multiple POVs. Ghostwritten, Cloud Atlas , Bone Clocks and Slade House... (etc.)

 

[Susan]

Colleen McCulloch’s The Song of Troy had lots of first person narrators. They all sounded alike to me except for Helen, but it seems to have been well received.

 

[Leonora]

Gone Girl?

 

[Eva Ulian]

Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf is officially 3rd person omniscient but the POV change throughout the book.

 

[Barbara]

The One, by John Marrs. A psychological thriller.

 

[CageSage]

Chocolat, by Joanne Harris. After a while, I didn't notice it was first person, though.

 

[Nikky Lee]

Children of Blood and Bone has 3 different 1st POVs.

 

[Patricia]

The Girl Before by JP Delaney also had two first person POVs. The trouble was I listened to it on audiobook, and if I returned mid-chapter then I sometimes struggled to work out which POV it was.

 

[Malaika]

The Girl Before by JP Delaney also had two first person POVs. The trouble was I listened to it on audiobook, and if I returned mid-chapter then I sometimes struggled to work out which POV it was.

I had the same problem with the Time Traveler's Wife. I also listened to it, and I could never remember who was speaking if the other narrator wasn't present in the scene or if it wasn't obvious based on the action. They definitely did not have distinctive voices.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

This thread made me think of a Hollywood film from 1957, Three Faces of Eve, which explored multiple personality disorder...a prime example of multiple first person POV!

The Three Faces of Eve - Wikipedia

 

[Amber]

This thread made me think of a Hollywood film from 1957, Three Faces of Eve, which explored multiple personality disorder...a prime example of multiple first person POV!

The Three Faces of Eve - Wikipedia

It's not called MPD anymore. It's dissociative disorder. Which isn't even important because psychologists are still trying to decide whether it actually exists and what its characteristics are.

I wouldn't call The Three Faces of Eve multiple first person POV either. Films actually have a point of view, but the camera in the movie didn't only film what Eve could see and so the analogy doesn't fit. Film is a different medium and while likening point of view to where the camera might be is useful, the analogy doesn't extend that far. In the movie we are firmly outside of her head and aren't even looking out of her eyes.

 

[Carol Rose]

It's becoming quite common in contemporary romance to write a book in first POV, alternating between the hero's and heroine's POVs - both told in first. Most authors break this up by alternating chapters so as not to confuse readers. It works quite well if the author is skilled in writing first POV, and is careful to give each character a very distinct personality. Then again, one must do this when writing the book in third person, too, or both the hero and heroine sound the same.

 

[Malaika]

I can't believe I didn't think of the Poisonwood Bible. That's master class in multiple first person POV.