Third Person Point of View
I recently completed Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time by Greg Mortensen and David Oliver Relin. The book describes Mortensen’s gifts of time, energy, and devotion when building schools in the remote regions of Northern Pakistan. Interestingly, Mortensen did not start out with the intention to promote peace, but the notion evolved as he came to know and understand the people of Pakistan and witness his own country’s overt errors resulting from a lack of understanding.
What really intrigued me, however, is the co-author David Oliver Relin. Relin’s picture appears in the book and one assumes he is the narrator of the story since Mortensen is spoken of in third person. I think it is interesting that no mention is made of when Relin enters the scene and actually begins to witness the things that are written. Certainly much of the early story is written as it was told to him. Then at some point he met Mortensen and was invited to collaborate on the book or maybe he offered to collaborate. I wonder about the decision to make him the narrator of the story rather than write the narrative in first person since both men’s names are listed as author. It’s a journalistic approach for sure and perhaps a good one, but I kept waiting for Relin to arrive in the story so apparent were his sensibilities in the tale.
As I prepare to write a non-fiction book, one in which I will relate the stories of 10 women inventors, I’m very conscious of point of view. I generally find first person point of view more compelling, but that wasn’t so with Three Cups of Tea.
So the question is: How did Relin accomplish a profound level of intimacy and a compelling degree of potency when employing a third person perspective? Was it the story itself? Or was it protagonist Mortensen’s strength of character? I’m sure it was both of these. But I also think it was more . . . something in the way Relin manages the material. A closer look is in order.
What does it take to make compelling storytelling from third person point of view?
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