...This isn't a book!

For the first time I was in shock, staring down the barrel of a loaded gun, a chill went down my spine. West found himself at the wrong end of gun barrel; a look of shock struck him like a freight train. Which one of those sentences sounded more intense and engaging? Most would say the first one because it was written in first person point of view. When we meet new people or just like telling stories to our friends and family it’s always in first person, which is why first person point of view is the popular choice of many successful authors.

Sometimes first person point of view isn’t the best though, it can be somewhat limiting especially if the writer isn’t a professional. Recently I’ve started reading a new paperback, The Reluctant Fundamentalist . The book is written in first person and done very well. The author, Mohsim Hamid, has done an exceptional job. In the first two chapters though I didn’t hold this opinion the book seemed hard to follow. This wasn’t the author’s fault, it was my mine. Being in the first person you really have to accept how things are put in front of you in words, very subjective. The novel is one I know I will probably have to read through twice, just like in real life you can’t know and understand a person just from one or a few interactions. The book seemed less and less like a novel and more like a person I’m getting to know. First person point can have this deep effect on the observer.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist seems to have some serious themes but the main character, Changez never seems to stray from the believable. Take this quote for example, Changez is sitting down to dinner with new friends, “When my turn came , I said I hoped one day to be the dictator of an Islamic republic with nuclear capability; the others appeared shocked… I was joking.” (p33) I literally laughed out loud even though I wasn’t there because in the previous 32 pages were him slowly piecing my image of him together and nothing else, he is a Pakistani by the way…

First person isn’t just limited to novels of course, I’m sure you already have a favorite movie in mind that is first person. If you visit www.IMDB.com one of the top rated movies OF ALL TIME is Memento (2000). The main character, Guy Pearce’s story is told form first person which I believe was the reason for the movies success and praise. If a coin would be tossed, heads I get to know the ending or tails, I get $1000 I would be hoping for heads in the theatre. By the end of the movie you’ll want nothing more than to piece this man’s fragmented memories back together, I highly recommended you rent it you Netflix it like I did.

Of course it’s about that time where I must mention third person point of view. Third person leaves room for exaggeration thus yielding more entertainment. Let’s just say hypothetically if third person and first person points of view were both pieces of literature, first person would have to be a diary and third person the Enquirer in my opinion. Also if you really can’t form a connection with the main character in a first person novel you’ll probably ditch the book and not finish it.

In closing I believe first person point of view can definitely help a story, like Changez, reach its full potential as long as the author isn’t an amateur. Now I’ll invite you to share your thoughts especially with regard to your favorite movies and tell me which are first and third person.

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