His & Hers

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses the sexual grooming of adolescents, sexual assault and rape, and physical and emotional abuse.

Starting with its title, His & Hers points to the existence of subjective truths and different perspectives on the same story. Its three points of view belong to “him” (Jack), “her” (Anna), and the unidentified murderer. As red herrings and frame jobs abound, this third voice could belong to various characters, and the mystery is as much a who-is-it as a whodunnit.

The first three sections of the novel, in which we originally encounter each voice, highlight the multiplicity of available narratives and the fundamental unreliability of each. The book starts with (the unidentified) Mrs. Andrews, who explicates the title: “There are at least two sides to every story: Yours and mine. Ours and theirs. His and hers. Which means someone is always lying. Lies told often enough can start to sound true” (2). There are always different perspectives from which to view an event. People can manipulate and distort truth, and consistent fiction compels belief. She claims that “someone is always lying” and highlights humanity’s capacity for self-deception: “We all sometimes hear a voice inside our heads, saying something so shocking, we pretend it is not our own” (2).