sentences:  Mona narrates as a recollection for the entire novel, though it is not clear how much time has passed since the events she is describing.In the first chapter, she brings us back to the present with cryptic references to the end of the tale, but after this the narrative is uninterrupted and stays in the past tense.In 2004, a film based on the novel was released, but it was a fairly free adaptation, and differs from the novel in a number of ways.