Who is the narrator, can she or he read minds, and, more importantly, can we trust her or him?
Third Person (Limited Omniscient)
The narrator of Other
Voices, Other Rooms is, just like the reader, a sort of fly on
the wall. The narrator focuses on Joel, whose thoughts we have VIP access to.
For example, when Joel is trying to find out where his father is, we get a
full-on view of his irritation, without any quotation marks to differentiate
between his thoughts and the narrator's observations:
Miss Amy, about my father…
What in hell was the matter with her? Was she a little deaf, like his cousin Louise? (1.2.45-46)
While the narrator gives us a straight taste of Joel's thoughts, they don't participate in the story. This narrator is happy just telling it like they see it, and not trying to meddle. That's understandable—we wouldn't want to touch Joel's bizarre-o step-family with a ten foot pole.