Summary: Perturbative bulk reconstruction in AdS/CFT starts by representing a free bulk field \(\phi^{(0)}\) as a smeared operator in the CFT. A series of \(1/N\) corrections must be added to \(\phi^{(0)}\) to represent an interacting bulk field \(\phi\). These corrections have been determined in the literature from several points of view. Here we develop a new perspective. We show that correlation functions involving \(\phi^{(0)}\) suffer from ambiguities due to analytic continuation. As a result \(\phi^{(0)}\) fails to be a well-defined linear operator in the CFT. This means bulk reconstruction can be understood as a procedure for building up well-defined operators in the CFT which thereby singles out the interacting field \(\phi\). We further propose that the difficulty with defining \(\phi^{(0)}\) as a linear operator can be re-interpreted as a breakdown of associativity. Presumably \(\phi^{(0)}\) can only be corrected to become an associative operator in perturbation theory. This suggests that quantum mechanics in the bulk is only valid in perturbation theory around a semiclassical bulk geometry.