Starting Over

I waited for seven weeks for a book I requested. It arrived and I picked it up today, both anxious to read and unwilling to plunge in and hurry along. Once starting I know that I will rush headlong into the story and find myself pursuing the ending.

Is the desire to reach the end and see the threads picked up and woven into the narrative a complement to a book that holds the reader's attention or something else? Do we see ourselves in the story? Perhaps we read the story as a metaphor?

The book I'm about to read is a dystopian novel. Perhaps I want to know if the universe totally succumbs or comes back in a different shape.