The Sense of an Ending

By: Julian Barnes

Narrated by: Simon Vance

 Winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize

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.

©2011 Julian Barnes (P)2020 Recorded Books

Superb!

I’ve only recently discovered Barnes. I find the intellectual introspection both instructive and restorative regarding that drive to piece together an accurate account of ourselves, or extract a valuation of our lives via our impact on others while contending with the mire of our own subjectivity. So much focus is placed on the validation that others give to us, but this novel asks not, “do you see me?”, but rather focuses on “ do I/can I/ how do I see me?”. A life-long toil beautifully punctuated by Simon Vance’s narration.

Elegant

Thoughtful, beautifully written, and I must admit I did not see the end coming.
When it was done I was left with the feeling I wanted more.

The unreliability of the stories we tell ourselves

A short novella that examines the stories we tell ourselves about our past and who we are.

It’s like a psychological crime investigation as our unreliable narrator tries to piece back his previous life and memories from items and people that could provide some corroboration. And discover startling differences and shocking revelations.

Prosaic, self-centered protagonist but well-written

It’s very much a journey of the individual. The world and everyone in it revolves around the narrator and protagonist. I love Julian Barnes but he does seem to just do the same story again and again.

Great stort

Amazing. Could not put it down. The reader was top notch. Worth a second read.