About this title: An abstracted and self-referential story that analyzes and reflects on a love affair, its dissolution, and the author's attempts to turn memory into fiction.
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Description: Acceptable. 1996-Paperback----Used-Acceptable-Hall Street Books proudly ships from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours, M-F. 100% money back No-Worry guarantee with expedited delivery and delivery confirmation available. read more
Description: Good. 0374148317 Ex-library book with usual markings. Clean text. SATISF GNTD + SHIPS W/IN 24 HRS. Ships in a padded envelope with free tracking. 40, 340. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Picador
Date Published: 2004-07-01
ISBN-13:9780312423711ISBN:0312423713
Description: Very Good. No marks or highlighting! ! Pages have a couple of earmarks. Cover shows minimal wear. Great copy! ! FAST SHIPPING W/USPS TRACKING! ! ! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Picador
Date Published: 2004-07-01
ISBN-13:9780312423711ISBN:0312423713
Description: Fair. Moderate amount of marks or highlighting. Cover has been written on and edge is curled from use. FAST SHIPPING W/USPS TRACKING! ! ! read more
Edition: Reprint
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: PICADOR
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780312423711ISBN:0312423713
Description: New. Mislabeled boxes, problems with visiting nurses, confusing notes, an outing to the county fair--such are the obstacles in the way of the unnamed narrator of "The End of the Story "as she attempts to organize her memories of a love affair into a novel. read more
"so different from any other book i've read, this book attempts to narrate a story backwards, and accomplishes it more successfully perhaps than most of the other films and books which have tried in various ways to do the same thing-- I read this in a creative writing class and it remains a memorable read"
"A tedious read. Not recommended for those who don't have the patience for experimental writing. Or patience for unnecessarily lengthy descriptions that pop up every few pages.
Essentially this is a novel written about the PROCESS of writing a novel BASED on a past relationship. Got it? Our protagonist is a unnamed woman somewhere in her 30s getting involved with a young 20 something student. The relationship ends, and as a sort of therapy she wants to transcribe the relationship to novel form. And we the reader get to go inside her head as she sorts all these conflicting memories out onto paper.
It's a strong premise, but it's too much. It's easy to get bored once she goes into detail for 5 pages about whether to include a party she attended. That's all the book is, her process. She tries to look at the relationship from an indifferent perspective, making the writing sometimes come across very dry and monotonous.
That wasn't a huge deterrent for me. What made me disconnect with the book is the romance itself. I was able to grasp the mutual attraction to each other, but I never understood why it hurt her do deeply when it ended. The relationship didn't seem as substantial as it appeared to be in the end. By the end she did absurd things to try to get near him which came across as just stupid, not at all romantic. She just becomes this pathetic character I felt almost no sympathy for.
Despite all of that it did have some really awesome quotes:
"As long as everything stayed the same, it seemed possible for him to come back. As long as everything was the way he had left it, his place was open for him. But if things changed beyond a certain point, his place in my life began to close, he could not reenter it, or if he did, he would have to reenter in a new way".
I did end up thinking about this book for awhile afterward, so in that respect it's definitely a success."
"I've been reading on this book for seven or eight months. It's an experimental novel, with the main character attempting to remember every event of her relationship with a man, starting with the last first. The end of the story is really the beginning. Fun to start, like most gimmicks, but grew quite wearing. Where did this author go for her degree in creative writing?"
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