Triple Whammy II: Then We Came To The End

"Awfully funny" says Nick Hornby on (and about) my copy of Then We Came To The End, purchased last year at The Bookstore Where Books Are A Dollar. And folks, Nick Hornby tells no lie.

This was my second time reading this book, and the first time through I remember taking it kind of hard when bad things happened to various people. The book made me laugh but it also made me kind of sad, and I put it in the maybe-give-it-away pile. With some time to think about the book, though--and I thought about it a lot--I snatched it back from that pile and found it a spot in the yellow section of the permanent collection.

I read it with Amy this time through, reading aloud to her when we were together and skimming to catch up when she read on her own. Reading aloud--and reading a book for a second time--makes me pay much closer attention to the language, which was particularly interesting for this book. It is written mostly in first person plural, and it is done so well that that fact faded from my consciousness very quickly, the first time through. But THIS time the POV stayed foregrounded, because reading all those "we" sentences aloud was crazy.

All those "we" sentences, read aloud, sounded like poetry. And there was a lot of reading aloud while Amy, e.g., weeded out the tomato patch or washed dishes. So overall it felt like I was reading poetry REALLY LOUDLY in the garden or from the kitchen floor: a crazy feeling. This time through, I also reflected on the funny/sad dynamics. I think the book is hilarious and thoughtful in little ways--in the interactions between people, the things that are important to them, etc. But in big ways, it is thoughtful and sad. It's about work, and groups, individuals, and relationships between and among people (duh, cause of all the "we"s). It even has a little mystery you can solve for yourself when you come to the end. Recommended.