GoKawiilEssay Explores the 'Volta' Moment When Novels Suddenly Grip Readers
A writer describes a recurring pattern in reading fiction: novels often begin tediously before hitting a turning point—borrowed from the poetic term 'volta'—after which they become compulsively readable. To test the idea, the author had several friends read Graham Greene's 'The End of the Affair' and report when this shift occurred for them, finding the moment varied widely, from page 20 to much later in the book.