“Labrador” by Kathryn Davis: First fifty pages of praised novel raise questions about narration and characters not raised in book reviews

The first-person narrator, Kathleen (“Kitty”), begins her story when she is five and her sister, Willie, is nine. Kitty is telling the story, not to the reader, but to “you,” who is Willie.

Kitty tells how she became aware of Rogni, a male angel, whom only she could hear and see, and whose existence she had never revealed to Willie until now (the telling of this story). The two young sisters live with their parents, but Kitty sometimes likes to imagine that the sisters are orphans. Both sisters are portrayed as children who readily tell lies (1).

Why is Kitty addressing the narrative to her sister rather than the reader? And since Kitty depicts herself as a child who imagines things that are not true (like a fire when there is no fire), is she imagining Willie and Rogni? And are Willie and Rogni Kitty’s imaginary companions or alternate personalities?

Reviewers don’t wonder about these things (2,3,4,5) and maybe I won’t either by the time I finish the novel.

1. Kathryn Davis. Labrador. New York, Farrar Straus Giroux, 1988.

2. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kathryn-davis-2/labrador/

3. https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-374-18251-9

4. https://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/14/books/the-angel-fell-for-willie.html

5. https://www.nytimes.com/1988/07/09/books/books-of-the-times-darkness-under-2-sisters-innocence.html