DVDVRBC THE SENSE OF AN ENDING by Julian Barnes

[Jingus]

I'm about halfway through this now.  It's good, but not entirely on my wavelength.  I respect it more than I enjoy it.  These "coming of age" stories where some ordinary guy looks back on his life in such a navel-gazey fashion are not remotely my favorite subgenre of literature.  But it is written quite well, the prose works just fine even while the self-indulgent subject matter is boring me to sleep.  

[jaedmc]

Then it's actually kind of perfect if you don't like that kind of stuff, by the time you get through it.

[Jingus]

Finished it.  (Yes, I know that I'm later than JesuOtaku trying to get a free car.)  Didn't like the ending.  Didn't understand the point.  I still hate Veronica/Mary with a burning passion, I despise people who refuse to explain things (with certain exceptions, like David Lynch, Stanley Kubrick, maybe even Lars Von Trier on their good days).  

 

 

If someone feels that the more 'relatable' their art is, then the better it becomes, then I can see the problem.  If you watch Office Space and go, "Wow, I have a shitty office job too!  What a great movie, give it all the Oscars!" then yes, that's kind of lazy.  But (and I'm not necessarily talking about this book in particular here) if a book or movie lines up with your life experience in a way that you didn't know was possible, like something you thought very few other people went through, then that can be a lot more valuable.

 

 

Totally irrelevant, but the second part is a great articulation of why I love Chuck Palanhiuk's Damned so much.  

 

I am trying to remember the last time I have hated every single person in a story.

The only thing I can immediately think of is Blair Witch Project

Grr....

 

 

Aw, the people in Blair Witch Project were totally superior to these stuck-up dweebs.  Tony wouldn't have lasted two days in the Jersey woods.  I do think that this story is fundamentally English, maybe being an American just leaves me without the perspective to find any of this anything but annoying. 

[Liam]

I do think there is a fundamentally English air to the story. Not saying it doesn't work for anyone outside of the UK, but I can imagine certain parts might work more if you were British.