Who is the narrator, can she or he read minds, and, more importantly, can we trust her or him?
Third Person and First Person
In case you're thinking that we've totally lost our minds, don't worry—we'll explain how the book can be narrated in both the third and first person at the same time. Did you notice how we jump back and forth from 1944 to 1995 depending on who's talking? Well we're not just going through the time machine then—we're also switching it up when it comes to narration style.
Whenever we're with Jacob, the novel is in third person. We observe him and his experiences as he wanders the streets of Amsterdam and learns the truth about his past. Check out the way he's described when we first meet him:
Choosing to turn right across the bridge over the canal, he soon found himself in a bulge of open space, dominated by the bulky frontage of a theatre, into which many streets and tramways flowed. (1.4)
See how he's talked about, instead of doing the talking? That's the mark of third person for you. We can see what he's doing and how he's doing it, but we don't experience it alongside him ourselves—instead we're watching him from a bit of a distance. When we're in Geertrui's chapters, on the other hand, we're right there with her, sitting inside her head.
Everything from this gal is written in the first person, as though we're experiencing her life right along with her. An example? When she first sees the English soldiers entering Amsterdam, she says:
I was on my way back when I heard the planes and saw the parachutes. "Oh look!" I called out, though there was nobody to hear me. "Look! How beautiful!" (2.7)
We can almost see the parachutes with her, because we see the story from her perspective. Perhaps that's because she's writing it as a memoir for Jacob, wanting him to get what's happened to her—memoirs are usually written in the first person.
Okay, so we switch perspectives in this book. But so what? Here's what it accomplishes, Shmoopsters: it keeps Geertrui in a position of authority—we're right there with her, so she's running the show in her chapters—and it keeps Jacob in a position of being along for the ride. Jacob never runs the show—we're never stuck in his head—which is fitting because, during this trip he's on, he's really not in charge. You know who is? Yup—Geertrui. And the narration style follows suit.