The Summer of Broken Rules

Meredith is the protagonist of the novel, and it is through her eyes that K. L. Walther relays the many interactions that occur during the family’s week at Martha’s Vineyard. The story is told from a first-person limited perspective, so the reader is only ever aware of Meredith’s thoughts and what she believes she knows about the characters around her. This deliberate limitation of perspective also allows the author to delve more deeply into the emotional struggles that Meredith undergoes during this difficult return to her family’s homestead and all of the places that Claire loved the most. Although a year and a half has passed since Claire was killed, Meredith has resisted the pain of the healing process because she has not allowed herself to truly feel and resolve her emotions.

Although Walther tells the story through Meredith’s perspective as the narrator, Meredith’s portrayal of events is fairly reliable overall, because unlike many stories that revolve around the inherent unreliability of a first-person narrator, Meredith proves to have a commitment to portraying the truths of the story as accurately and honestly as she can. For example, she does not deny the truth of Luli’s accusations when her friend labels her selfish; instead, she instead acknowledges that Luli is right.