What is the narrator point of view in the novel, Whisper Network?

In Whisper Network, Chandler Baker establishes a unique perspective that shifts from a plural first person point of view into a close third person perspective in past tense. Many of the chapters begin by referring to a collective “we.” For example, Chapter 1 starts, “Before that day, our lives raced along an invisible roller-coaster track, a cart fastened to the rails through engineering and forces we couldn’t wholly grasp, despite our superabundance of academic degrees. We moved with a sense of controlled chaos” (3). This is significant because the narrator establishes a group of those to whom they refer when they say “we.” It becomes clear as the narration continues that this group is specific to women, particularly those who work in an office environment, like the main characters of this novel.

However, this perspective shifts into third person within a few paragraphs of each chapter. A few lines down from this opening, Baker writes, “The morning that our CEO died, we looked up suddenly to realize the roller coaster had a faulty wheel and we were about to be thrown off the rails. Ardie Valdez… was the first to have an inkling of the crash ahead” (3). Within this short space, Baker shifts from characterizing the narrator as the group of women who work at Truviv, to referring to Ardie as a separate entity.

The close third person perspective allows the narrator to reveal the inner thoughts of the main characters. Each chapter shifts between which of the main characters upon which it focuses. For instance, in Rosalita’s chapters, the narrator does not identify the names of people who she does not know by name. In Chapter 17, Rosalita sees Ames and Katherine together in Ames’ office, but does not identify either party by name, instead calling Ames’ the owner of the “corner office” and Katherine “a woman with dark, short hair” (126). The reader must use context to determine these characters’ identities in the moment.

The blending of the two different perspectives lends itself to a discussion of the narrator’s identity. The narrator has insight into the main characters’ thoughts and observations during their third person retellings of events. When they remain in the plural first person, the narrator seems to identify with the group of the novel’s protagonists, including Sloane, Ardie, Grace, and Rosalita, but also the unnamed women who work at Truviv or exist in situations like this fictional office setting.