The Sense of an Ending

By: Julian Barnes

Narrated by: Richard Morant

Length: 4 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

Man Booker Prize, Fiction, 2011

The powerful, unsettling, and beautifully crafted new novel from one of England’s greatest contemporary writers.

Tony Webster and his clique first met Adrian Finn at school. Sex-hungry and book-hungry, they would navigate the girl-less sixth form together, trading in affectations, in-jokes, rumour, and wit. Maybe Adrian was a little more serious than the others, certainly more intelligent, but they all swore to stay friends for life. Now Tony is retired. He’s had a career and a single marriage, a calm divorce. He’s certainly never tried to hurt anybody. Memory, though, is imperfect. It can always throw up surprises, as a lawyer’s letter is about to prove.

The Sense of an Ending is the story of one man coming to terms with the mutable past. Laced with trademark precision, dexterity, and insight, it is the work of one of the world’s most distinguished writers.

A complete and unabridged reading by Richard Morant.

©2011 Julian Barnes (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Elegant, playful, and remarkable.” ( The New Yorker)

“A page turner, and when you finish you will return immediately to the beginning . . . Who are you? How can you be sure? What if you’re not who you think you are? What if you never were? . . . At 163 pages, The Sense of an Ending is the longest book I have ever read, so prepare yourself for rereading. You won’t regret it.” ( The San Francisco Chronicle)

“Dense with philosophical ideas . . . it manages to create genuine suspense as a sort of psychological detective story . . . Unpeeling the onion layers of the hero’s life while showing how [he] has sliced and diced his past in order to create a self he can live with. (Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times)

“Barnes seems equipped to write with humour and elegance about anything he turns his attention to” ( Financial Times)

Quizzical Yet Satisfying!

Listening to a book like Barnes' makes required some patience but was ultimately rewarding. It's an extended allegory for the difficulty of writing history based on scant evidence. A simple tale, interestingly told. I hope Audible gets more quality literature like this onto their 'shelves'.

Great little book!

What a great little book! It's really short, about 150 pages/4 hours, but is very emotionally powerful. It's written like a mystery story that unravels slowly and really keeps your attention so you can find out what really happened. The main thing I liked about it is the author's ability to analyze and comment on life. He is really thought provoking. It's a little bit sad and nostalgic, but I don't mind that. I think it would be good for a book club book because there are several central questions that have very hazy answers and need to be discussed!

Riveted from the beginning

This book had me riveted from the beginning. It’s a beautifully constructed and intriguing story. Barnes has woven themes of memory, remorse, history, philosophy, secrets and lies into a sometimes sad but eventually satisfying chronicle. Without being too self-conscious the writing maintained a wonderful sense of place, and I think this is really important to great storytelling.

It is quite short, but I saw this as a good thing… the pace was brisk, the backstory was unlaboured, the sidebar stories were exactly that… stories not subplots. It was just a really great piece of fiction.

The narration by Richard Morant was pitch-perfect… he brought exactly the right amount of charm, fragility, intelligence and reflection to this first-person story. In fact, my first task after completing this review is to logon to Audible and search for more works narrated by Morant. My second task will be to search for more works by Barnes.

Thoroughly recommend.

Still chewing on the ending-well written/performed

Still not sure I pieced the ending all together--but a very well written story that drew me in. A short and good listen that would be fun to talk over with a friend who has also read it. I did miss the opportunity of having a paper book to go back over the last pages several times and replaying is cumbersome--enjoyed listening to it and enjoyed the craft of the writer which was first class>

great story..greater narration..loved it

clever ending, but I personally wish that V would've been more helpeful for A's better understanding instead of bitterly accusing him so too much....after all that ti~~~~me
greatly chosen narrator
even searched for books with Morant's possible narration, after finishing the book..

Beautiful story, frustrating ending

This beautiful story had NO sense of an ending. The story is told by a man in his 60's, about events 40 years in the past. The plot is interesting, and philosophically challenging. It hangs on a bequest. The mother of a former girlfriend has died and left him some money and an old friend's diary. Why? What happened all those years ago?

The fascinating premise is that the way we remember the past is not what actually happened, and there is rarely any kind of objective evidence to provide a definitive answer.

There is not much action in this book, but the narrartor's reflections were interesting to me, and the author's language is eloquent and beautiful. I enjoyed trying to piece together the past from various fragments of input.

However, even though it's consistent with the themes of the book, I was incredibly frustrated by the ending. Most of the main questions of the plot were not answered. There's plenty of meat for speculation, so if you enjoy drawing your own theories, you may enjoy this very much. It was just too vague for me. I actually did not realize the book was over, and searched for another download.

literary and heart wrenching

What did you love best about The Sense of an Ending?

this book is so easy to listen to, and it evokes one's own childhood with longing, innocence, and the earnest fight for understanding.

What does Richard Morant bring to the story that you wouldn???t experience if you just read the book?

This narrator brings the sensibilities of the era to life.

A little dull

What did you like about this audiobook?

Well-written

What did you find wrong about the narrator's performance?

The intonation was a little off sometimes, particularly when the narrator was speaking as one of the young characters.

Do you have any additional comments?

None of the characters were particularly interesting or consistent, and I felt like the story never really got started.

What is history?

What did you love best about The Sense of an Ending?

I loved his explanation of history; the lies of the victors or the delusions of the defeated

Who was your favorite character and why?

Anthony, the protagonist, was my favorite as he was intended to be; and so when I discovered his bad acts I was shocked but forgiving of his youthful failures and self delusion.

not for me & fairly depressing

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I just didn't enjoy the book. I bought it because it was showcased on the front page of audible. I probably should have read more reviews other than the editor's blurb. There was a lot of rambling thoughts with no real movement to the book & the end resolved nothing.