Point of View: Challenging the Border(s) of Perspective
By employing a variety of techniques to render point of view, Julie Otsuka creates a connection between characters and readers in her two novels, When the Emperor Was Divine and The Buddha in the Attic. Otsuka uses both the distance and intimacy of perspective to challenge the borders of the reader's self, allowing the reader to recognize and value another's experience, with her unusual use of limited-omniscient third person, first person and first-person collective.