So Far....

Ok so.... does anyone else find this book really confusing yet cool at the same time? When I first started reading this I was expecting the normal type of novel where you read it for the story line and just except the fact that it is a story and there for you to enjoy. I now realize that this book is much more than that. It goes deep into the mind of others, searching for something that you can not just see. Even in Chapter 10, Barnes starts out comparing the differences and similarities between fantasy and reality. It almost seems as if he is trying to have you decide. Everything you believe in has to be either fake or real and depending on the person, even something fake to someone else can be real to another. Julian Barnes also asks many questions throughout the reading where you are left to stop and think. It really makes you see different sides of an issue and opens our eyes to a lot. I really liked the quote that Barnes used on page 127 that read..."But if you love a writer, if you depend upon drip-feed of his intelligence, if you want to pursue him and find him- despite edicts to the contrary- then it's impossible to know too much." I just think that this really shows that too much knowledge is never actually too much. You can always look further into something and learn more. Although I still find this novel confusing, it is starting to grow on me. I am beginning, finally, to understand what the author means by all his rambling. It is a very different form of writing, and it just takes a little bit more to be able to fully comprehend his meanings. He shows so many different points of view in a short period of time it is easy to get confused. The questions and statements he makes go from being very broad to being at the point that is can't get any more specific. I like how Barnes analyses Flaubert's writing and contemplates why each point was made.