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)

Sorry, I didn't much like it.

It's a meandering tale about a bunch of school chaps who like each other and really are over-awed by one of their members who later comes to a sticky end. And the details of this sticky end are confined to the last few pages leaving it to the reader to fill in the blanks, which isn't too hard. Turns out, their idol had feet of clay. Don't want to be too specific and give away the ending, but the whole book seems to culminate in those last few pages.

The Sense of an Ending

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Not possible. The summary made this sound very Dead Poet Society-like, but it was way off. Listening to a self-absorbed old man continue to obsess about bad sexual encounters or the wish for even bad sexual encounters loooonnnng after the fact does not an interesting story make.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Well that would give away the terrible ending.

How could the performance have been better?

There was little difference between voices of characters and it all read a little like the adult voices in Charlie Brown. I found myself getting lost, missing chunks of the mystery, and then not really caring. I had to explain the ending to my highly literate boyfriend at the end of our road trip. He had missed a few steps too.

An Amazing and Complex Story

if you enjoyed " The Remains of the Day" you will certainly enjoy "The Sense of an Ending". Few authors can make the mathematics of philosophy nor the personal effects of historiography interesting, but Julian Barnes accomplishes it. Richard Morant provides an excellent narration.

Good Writing No Story

This book was very well written, but there was no story. I was bored and disappointed.

Save your audible credits and time

I'm not sure what all the hype is about. I found this book terribly disappointing compared to the reviews and while it was a short book (under 5 hours), it felt like I was listening forever. Spend your time and credits on another book.

Couldnt stick it out to the Ending

A pointless book. I felt no connection with the primary character who was obsessed with a relatively minor incident in his life and just needed to MOVE ON!!!!

not my kind of thing

quoting one of the character, "i didnt get it, and I never will". One thing is being subtle, like masterpieces should be, but another thing is being obscure.

Knock knock

Like a short silly joke. You get to the end and you say "Really thats it?"
Didn't do any thing for me other then I asked my self Really, thats the big surprise ending? bad joke. Waste of time.

pointless

The writer is clearly skilled but the actual ending of this story was just not worth the effort. An unsympathetic protaganist and a pointless end. The reviews misled me but maybe someone saw something in this that I sure didn't.

Not worth a credit

The Sense of an Ending did not end soon enough for me. Very boring.l I wish I had not wasted a credit on this book.