First vs. third person

[Debottam_55]

A third person narrative always provides an omniscient point of view, whereas a first-person narrative is a direct and more character oriented. It is very confusing when first and third person narratives are combined in a book. Just because a character cannot be present at every point in the novel it does not mean that an omniscient narrator has to be present at those times. I find it unnecessary and disruptive as far as narration is concerned.

[vivalatianne]

I am not really a fan of third-point-of-view. It made me confused and unfocused on the story. I was really grateful when the rest of the chapters was in first-point-of-view.

[cornelia_SD]

I think it was written from the first-person point of view. That's why every chapter has a name in the beginning, to indicate whos point of view was being told.

[Charlie19]

Perhaps, to introduce the situation more realistically..it's kind of confusing to me, honestly

[Vickie Noel]

I'd also been a bit confused, but thankfully, the comments helped straighten it out for me.

[kmwarren20]

Personally, I’m not a fan of switching points of view like this. I prefer books that stick with either first person or third person, but that don’t alternate. It kind of bugs me.

[julieanazer]

I think this stylistic choice must have been because he wanted to highlight the thoughts of certain characters. Aside from third person omnipotent, secondary characters thoughts are generally masked. Perhaps he just really wanted us to hear what they were thinking?

I also think it is mainly a style choice, and what perspective of the character does the author want the reader to have. For me reading third person is kind of like I am outside looking in but first person I become that character.

[Joy Catap]

Yes, that's a bit confusing. Though maybe the author's only way of delivering some ideas is using the first person. And some of his ideas are better if they are delivered in the third person.

[Tamorie Hargro]

I am not really a fan of third-point-of-view. It made me confused and unfocused on the story. I was really grateful when the rest of the chapters was in first-point-of-view.

I'm a fan of both points of view, though I'm probably more familiar and comfortable with third-person since I feel, as a reader, that I have front-row seats to the private viewing quarters of someone's life more so than being the first-person narrator of a story. However, in a story like Adrift, I don't see why it'd be necessary to include both points of view in the first place. I'd just have enjoyed third POV.

[Noosh]

Personally, I prefer the third person varieties of narrators but I also believe that books that use both kinds of narrators (of course, different chapters having different narrators) are interesting.
The first person narrator gives us a sense of closeness to the narrator, like we're having a conversation or something. Then again, the third person narrators act like camera recorders, just showing you the world...
I enjoy these kinds of mixed narrators.
It only gets confusing when this switch happens in one chapter, from paragraph to paragraph. Then it's annoying.

[Bhaskins]

This is something I have struggled with in my writing. When I see it, it reminds me it's something I need to work on because I don't like the switching back and forth.

[aacodreanu]

I believe it is a matter of perspective, of point of view. When action is narrated in the perspective of one or another character, there may be different views of things present, and the reader benefits from a larger image, like in 3D, if I can use that analogy.

[cdhundley]

I found it fairly distracting. I've seen a few instances where it works well...well, a few instances where decades of acclaim and required reading lists have told us that it works well. I think it can work well, when the first person or third person narration is part of a record, like a journal entry, or recording, and when used sparingly and distinctively. But throughout an entire novel, it can be jarring and pull the reader out of the story.

[Laila Hashem]

I don't think it was an editing mistake. Generally, when I see this kind of perspective shift, it is because some characters' intentions, thoughts, and motivations are important to the themes and plotline, while others' are left to the imagination and were not meant to be known.

[Areej Tahir]

This was the first book ever with such fluctuations in the first and third person views and I liked it more than I care to admit. It was literally like kaleidoscope of perspectives