Isa's Wednesday Post

              After a novel as intricate as The Notes from the Underground, I am relieved and surprised by the apparent simplicity of "The Sense of an Ending." The plot began almost immediately, and the often embarrassing and insecure thoughts that most teenagers endure are laid out clearly for the reader. It is refreshing to be able to actually understand what is immediately happening. Tony, the main character, is seemingly a normal, awkward guy. Him and his group seem awfully pretentious, but naively so. What I found interesting was their fixation with Adrian's broken family. They immediately took it upon themselves to glamorize the situation and envied Adrian for his non traditional family. They were even puzzled at his blase attitude about the whole affair. What's ironic is that though Adrian has probably moved on, it's not unlikely that he is just as jealous if not more of the "boring", but united families that his friends have.
             Another thing that stood out to me was the discussion about history and the disagreement over whether witnesses, memories and rumors really distorts history. Thus history is unreliable. I wonder if this is foreshadowing....is the coming event in the book unreliable? After all, Tony himself even goes on to say that if his memory isn't failing him, he thinks he is remembering that discussion correctly. Will a witness testimony be important later on?
So far, I am enjoying this novel, and I'm eager to know what happens next. Why is there so much emphasis on Adrian? Most writers only build a character so much to watch them fall later on.