The reason this works better than the Markey example above or the Lonesome Dove example at the beginning of the chapter is that Hoffman maintains considerable narrative distance for much of the scene, even when in a character’s head. The voice describing Gillian’s lonely and dissolute life is as articulate and well organized as that describing Sally’s suburban existence. Readers aren’t moving from an intimate connection with one character to an intimate connection with another, as they do with McMurtry. It makes the jumps less jarring.
