Keri Final Post

"The Sense of an Ending" by Julian Barnes was my favorite book that we have read thus far in this class. I enjoyed it because, like Mr. Shapiro said, the way the author narrates the story is much more accessible to teenagers and ultimately, much more interesting. In my opinion, the novel explored a very controversial but exciting topic. This topic being the concept of time. The idea was appealing to me because I have always secretly wondered about time myself. I have always pondered in my head whether time is real or if it is a construct humans have developed over time to make things more efficient. Barnes directly addressed this possibility which thrilled me since I had previously thought that I was the only one to think about this. It was great to read a voice to my thoughts if you will. 
One other aspect of the book that I enjoyed was that it captured the true struggles of relationships and high school. I feel as though television shows, movies, and most books show relationships as these easy, utopian, picturesque occurrences but I oftentimes do not see how this fits reality. I liked how the first girlfriend Tony had was not normal so he had to deal with what happened when things did not go as planned. This makes it much more real. Too many times have I seen these unrealistic relationships and I have cringed. There needs to be a balance. Although, Veronica is crazy and strange. She says all of these enigmatic phrases. I guess that is why she is the enigmatic woman instead of the straight forward one. There is enigmatic in an interesting way but she is just strange and annoying. I was so happy when she did not have a part in the book. 
Finally, I think that the quote "Time is of the essence" embodies the main idea of this novel. I believe that Barnes' main point is that we should not feel like we are in a rush to accomplish all of our goals right away. Instead, we should take a moment to enjoy the journey. This exact idea is also displayed in "Notes from the Underground." If we attempt to,in effect, speed up our lives, we will reach a point where we look back and almost regret wasting all of that time. You can almost forget where you stopped enjoying this journey.