Who is the narrator, can she or he read minds, and, more importantly, can we trust her or him?
First Person/Central Narrator
Reading Deanna's narration is a lot like chilling at the fancy Taco Bell on the beach, sharing secrets over an order of Nachos Bell Grande. She tells her story like she's talking to a peer. For example, when she talks about facing down a bully she says, "I started with the middle finger (you really can't go wrong with a classic)" (1.16). She talks to us like we're one of her friends, in a casual tone oozing with personality.
And when she talks about how she's started writing fiction in response to her English teacher's journaling assignment, she says, "I mean, Mr. North said, 'Express your personal feelings.' He didn't say, 'Write a bunch of boring crap-ass nonsense about a made-up person doing nothing'" (2.4). Whether for school or not, Deanna's telling her own—very personal—story, in her own irreverent, slang-studded way, which makes reading it always feel just like hanging out with her.
By telling the story in the first person rather than the third person, Zarr makes it more immediate and relatable. After all, "crap-ass" just doesn't sound quite the same when an outside observer (especially an adult author) says it; and if Zarr dissed Deanna's writing it would just sound mean, but when Deanna disses it herself, it rings true to a girl with low self-esteem.