What is the author's perspective in the memoir, The Yellow House?

The Yellow House is written from multiple perspectives. This makes it different from most memoirs which typically only feature the point of view of the author. Sarah Broom is the author, main character, and narrator of the Yellow House as is the case with most memoirs and her perspective is still the main one featured in the book. However, she also includes the perspectives of her various family members who recount events that occurred when she was not present, such as Hurricane Katrina, or before she can remember, such as her father’s funeral. She also writes about events that occurred before she was born which naturally reflect the perspectives of the family members she likely interviewed to get these stories.

Though the book does include multiple perspectives, is it primarily written in the first person and uses first person singular pronouns. When writing about experiences or events for which she was not present and for which she has relied on the perspectives of others, Sarah uses the third person to recount their stories. She does not attempt to enter into the first-person voice of others and retells their stories as they were told to her, with the one exception being the inclusion of their spoken dialogue. There is one notable exception to this when Sarah writes from the point of view of her mother Ivory. She transcribes her mother’s dialogue into the text and uses italics instead of quotation marks to indicate that the final pages of Movement II are her mother’s words and reflect her mother’s perspective on the Yellow House.