I finally see why people argue about first vs third person narration

Read 'The Shining' in first person last month and then switched to third person for 'Pet Sematary'. The emotional punch hit so different. Has anyone else noticed a huge shift in how connected they feel based on POV?

2 comments

2 Comments

sagey6915d ago

Oh man I gotta push back on this one lol. For me first person always feels more like a gimmick than anything else. King's first person stuff in 'The Shining' worked okay but I actually felt way more connected to the family in 'Pet Sematary' because I could see all of them struggling from the outside instead of being stuck inside one character's head the whole time. The third person let me watch Louis make those terrible decisions and I was screaming at the page like a crazy person. Plus first person limits what you can know so you miss all that dramatic irony that makes horror hit harder.

charlesj4615d ago

Whoa, what if first person actually makes you the villain without you realizing it?