The Following Story....

So I just finished reading The Following Story for the second time and I have to say that I definitely understood it a little more the second time around. Yet, there are still parts that have me running circles trying to figure out what is going on. Rereading it I have come across the different themes that we have been studying in class. I really liked how he ended Part 1 "I could see that the man in Amsterdam wanted to wake up, he was thrashing about, his right hand groping for his glasses, but it was not he who switched on the light; it was me here in Lisbon." There were many good parts throughout the book that often surprised me and caught me off guard. He makes a lot of references to time which I found interesting. For example on page 32 he is talking about the building with the clock on it and how it is the law. "that my magisterial hands indicate the ephemeral, nonexistent now, as they always do." I like how he says "nonexistent now", and how he goes on to say that his is the "only true now." This makes me think of the theme Life as Fiction and Language in that he is the one in control of the now and what is and what is not, or at least he is for the time being. To be honest, the first time I read this book I did not like it very much. And although it is still not my favorite book I have ever read, I feel like I am able to take more away from it this around then the first time I read it.