Pie

While Pie almost exclusively follows the thoughts and actions of Alice, it is not a third-person narration that only relates the storyline from her perspective. Rather, Weeks employs the omniscient narrator’s point of view, allowing her to insert observations beyond the scope of what the protagonist realizes. For example, when Charlie observes that many citizens of Ipswitch have started baking pies following Polly’s death, the author adds that 47 different pies are in ovens around the village. Another freedom the omniscient viewpoint allows is the insertion of the actions and thoughts of random characters. At the end of Chapter 1, an unknown speaker drives past Polly’s pie shop and mutters, “Never again” (10). By not identifying who has spoken these words, Weeks builds a sense of mystery that requires an omniscient viewpoint. The use of this perspective also makes it much simpler for the author to skip ahead 40 years in the Epilogue and give a systematic rundown of the life stories of the characters.