Wow. Well I would have rather Walter gone to jail, than kill himself at the end. It just made the story feel so final. They say that hope is the last thing you should lose and in the end we all expect a happy ending, or at least we want to know that there is going to be more to a story than just an abrupt end such as this. When we read a story and in the end the character goes to jail for the crime or the character is let go, and the last we see of him is him riding into the sunset we are usually left with a sense of satisfaction. We know that the story isn’t over for them and when we read about a character and relate to him like we did with Walter Huff, knowing that he was going to kill himself and that there wasn’t going be more to his story it made me feel more “connected” to him. It brought out feelings of sadness that I wouldn’t have felt had the story just ended with him getting on a boat and sailing away. I didn’t like the end, but I think it was one of those endings that you don’t want or expect, yet love to read about because the truth is that not everything in life is in black and white. The ending was definitely appropriate since throughout the book there was so much planning involved, everything had to be done this or that way, but it all seem calculated, in some way so it’s only fitting that they themselves chose how to end their lives. I loved that Walter was given a “second chance” and at the end of the novel I was rooting for him because a part of me felt that he deserved an opportunity to get his life back together. He “got away” with murder but then when he sees Phyllis it makes it seem like he ran into a wall, he realizes that try as he might he can’t run away from what happened. I think Phyllis being there brought back all the feelings of hopelessness and a sense of nothingness within him. He was never going to be happy. He saw as in trying to be would be unachievable so in the end deciding to kill himself was just like going with the flow. Overall I loved the book and it has definitely become one of my favorites.
I like how you said, "I didn’t like the end, but I think it was one of those endings that you don’t want or expect, yet love to read about because the truth is that not everything in life is in black and white.", because so many people think there is a right and wrong answer to everything and the truth is life is not simple. Sometimes it would be easier if the things in life were yes and no. I think that is why connecting with Walter was so easy. I think a lot of us have been put in situations where we had to face something and make a difficult choice. With Walter I was always hoping he would change his mind even though I knew he was going to make the wrong choice. I liked reading your post and look forward to reading more in the future.
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