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Review
`compelling...Its effect is disturbing - all the more so for being written with Barnes's habitual lucidity. His reputation will surely be enhanced by this book. Do not be misled by its brevity. Its mystery is as deeply embedded as the most archaic of memories' --The Daily Telegraph
`A dexterously crafted narrative of unlooked-for consequences...polished phrasings, elegant verbal exactness and epigrammatic perceptions embellish his sombre story. Uncovering, link by link, and appalling chain reaction of briefly wished-for revenge, almost accidental damage, and remorse that agonisingly bites after most of a lifetime, it's a harsh tale rich in human resonances.' --The Times
"Cleverly, Barnes compresses a story with long temporal sweep into a scant 150 pages. (You can imagine a younger or a less confident author taking about three times as long to make the same points.) The cleverness resides not only in the way he has caught just how second-rate Webster's mind is without driving the reader to tears of boredom but in the way he has effectively doubled the length of the book by giving us a final revelation that obliges us to reread it. Without overstating his case in the slightest, Barnes's story is a meditation on the unreliability and falsity of memory; on not getting it the first time round - and possibly not even the second, either. Barnes's revelation is richly ambiguous. " --The Evening Standard
`Julian Barnes may well have written his best novel, he has certainly told a wonderful story that is all too human and all so real' --Irish Times, Eileen Battersby
Book of the week: `Written in beautifully cadenced prose, it is a mature writer's reflections on love and marriage... on family and friendship, on work and death.' --Time Out (London)
`His best attempt yet at proving that his creative urges only seem contradictory...is as satisfying as anything he's written.' --Daily Express
`A fascinating sketch of an unglamorous and rarely-mined vein of middle-class life.' --Daily Mail
`What is so impressive in Barnes's fiction is his ability to evoke the chaos and vulnerability that beleaguer human life, while remaining calm and lucid in the face of both. He seems a modern-day Stoic.' --The Times
`It gives as much resonance to what is unknown and unspoken - lost to memory as it does to the engine of its own plot. Fiction, Barnes writes in Nothing to be frightened of, "wants to tell all stories, in all their contrariness, contradiction and irresolvability". The Sense of an Ending honours that impossible desire in a way that is novel, fertile and memorable.' --Guardian
`Deservedly longlisted for the Man Booker prize, this is a very fine book, skilfully plotted, boldly concieved, full of bleak insight into the questions of ageing and memory, and producing a very real kick - or peripatetic - at its end. As Kermode wrote: "At some very low level we all share certain fictions about time, and they testify to the continuity of what is called human nature..." Barnes has achieved, in this shortish account of a not very attractive man, something of universal importance.' --Observer
`Its brevity, however, in no way compromises its intensity - every word has its part to play; with great but invisible skill Barnes squeezes into it not just a sense of the infinite complexity of the human heart but the damage the wrong permutations can cause when combined' --Financial Times
`quietly mesmerising...A slow burn, measured but suspenseful, this compact novel makes every slyly crafted sentence count...the concluding scenes grip like a thriller - a whodunit of memory and morality, and one which detonates a minor, private apocalypse' --Independent
`This is drama from the pen of a master wordsmith...a wise book' --Bookmunch
`adroit and unnerving and Barnes's keen intellect has rarely been so apparent' --The Independent on Sunday
`This is a masterful novel, imaginatively crafted, shaped by big, precisely articulated emotion' --The Times
`Julian Barnes may well have written his best novel, he has certainly told a wonderful story that is all too human and all so real' --Irish Times
'packs quite an emotional punch... Julian Barnes unravels the mystery with masterly skill. He springs surprise after surprise without stooping to sensationalism in a crisp, engaging tale" --Daily Mail
`there is no catastrophe, simply a dawning awareness of the past, its consequences and its meaning for the present. It is a familiar narrative structure, but in the hands of the master-wordsmith that Barnes has become, the effect is cumulatively overwhelming... A compelling, disturbing and profoundly moving story of human fallibility.' --Standpoint
`it is a perfect novel of positively European economy and power (shades of Schnitzler, shades of Camus)... It is beyond the wit and depth of any current British writer' --The Times
`[An] elegant, playful and remarkable novella' --New Yorker
`A dexterously crafted narrative of unlooked-for consequences...polished phrasings, elegant verbal exactness and epigrammatic perceptions embellish his sombre story. Uncovering, link by link, and appalling chain reaction of briefly wished-for revenge, almost accidental damage, and remorse that agonisingly bites after most of a lifetime, it's a harsh tale rich in human resonances.' --The Times
"Cleverly, Barnes compresses a story with long temporal sweep into a scant 150 pages. (You can imagine a younger or a less confident author taking about three times as long to make the same points.) The cleverness resides not only in the way he has caught just how second-rate Webster's mind is without driving the reader to tears of boredom but in the way he has effectively doubled the length of the book by giving us a final revelation that obliges us to reread it. Without overstating his case in the slightest, Barnes's story is a meditation on the unreliability and falsity of memory; on not getting it the first time round - and possibly not even the second, either. Barnes's revelation is richly ambiguous. " --The Evening Standard
`Julian Barnes may well have written his best novel, he has certainly told a wonderful story that is all too human and all so real' --Irish Times, Eileen Battersby
Book of the week: `Written in beautifully cadenced prose, it is a mature writer's reflections on love and marriage... on family and friendship, on work and death.' --Time Out (London)
`His best attempt yet at proving that his creative urges only seem contradictory...is as satisfying as anything he's written.' --Daily Express
`A fascinating sketch of an unglamorous and rarely-mined vein of middle-class life.' --Daily Mail
`What is so impressive in Barnes's fiction is his ability to evoke the chaos and vulnerability that beleaguer human life, while remaining calm and lucid in the face of both. He seems a modern-day Stoic.' --The Times
`It gives as much resonance to what is unknown and unspoken - lost to memory as it does to the engine of its own plot. Fiction, Barnes writes in Nothing to be frightened of, "wants to tell all stories, in all their contrariness, contradiction and irresolvability". The Sense of an Ending honours that impossible desire in a way that is novel, fertile and memorable.' --Guardian
`Deservedly longlisted for the Man Booker prize, this is a very fine book, skilfully plotted, boldly concieved, full of bleak insight into the questions of ageing and memory, and producing a very real kick - or peripatetic - at its end. As Kermode wrote: "At some very low level we all share certain fictions about time, and they testify to the continuity of what is called human nature..." Barnes has achieved, in this shortish account of a not very attractive man, something of universal importance.' --Observer
`Its brevity, however, in no way compromises its intensity - every word has its part to play; with great but invisible skill Barnes squeezes into it not just a sense of the infinite complexity of the human heart but the damage the wrong permutations can cause when combined' --Financial Times
`quietly mesmerising...A slow burn, measured but suspenseful, this compact novel makes every slyly crafted sentence count...the concluding scenes grip like a thriller - a whodunit of memory and morality, and one which detonates a minor, private apocalypse' --Independent
`This is drama from the pen of a master wordsmith...a wise book' --Bookmunch
`adroit and unnerving and Barnes's keen intellect has rarely been so apparent' --The Independent on Sunday
`This is a masterful novel, imaginatively crafted, shaped by big, precisely articulated emotion' --The Times
`Julian Barnes may well have written his best novel, he has certainly told a wonderful story that is all too human and all so real' --Irish Times
'packs quite an emotional punch... Julian Barnes unravels the mystery with masterly skill. He springs surprise after surprise without stooping to sensationalism in a crisp, engaging tale" --Daily Mail
`there is no catastrophe, simply a dawning awareness of the past, its consequences and its meaning for the present. It is a familiar narrative structure, but in the hands of the master-wordsmith that Barnes has become, the effect is cumulatively overwhelming... A compelling, disturbing and profoundly moving story of human fallibility.' --Standpoint
`it is a perfect novel of positively European economy and power (shades of Schnitzler, shades of Camus)... It is beyond the wit and depth of any current British writer' --The Times
`[An] elegant, playful and remarkable novella' --New Yorker
Book Description
A brilliant short novel from a writer at the very height of his powers. Winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 2011.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
375 of 393 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
"The Sense of an Ending" is almost more of a novella - it's a slim volume but exquisitely written, as you might expect from Julian Barnes. It starts off describing the relationships between four friends at school, narrated by one of the friends, Tony Webster, but quickly it becomes clear that this is written many years later. Barnes has long been a terrific observer of the English middle classes and his style invariably contains satire and dry humour. And this being Barnes, this school clique is intellectual in interest, as the narrator recalls English and History teachers and student philosophising.
Tony is a middle class everyman. He's unexceptional and his subsequent life has been so conventional as to border on the dull, unlike the catalyst for the story Adrian Finn who is intellectually gifted and a natural philosopher of the human condition. However the friendship falls apart after the friends leave to go to university and Adrian enters into a relationship with Tony's ex-girlfriend. And that would have been that, except that many years later a mysterious letter opens up the past causing Tony to reconsider the actions of his youth.
It's a book about history and how we recall events. Tony has his memories but without evidence or corroboration, how sure can he be? Do the lessons learnt in the History classroom apply to the individual? What starts off in the manner of Alan Bennett's "History Boys" soon turns into a darker mystery as Tony is forced to face up to the actions of his younger self.
It's a joy to read. Thought provoking, beautifully observed with just enough mystery to keep you turning the pages to find out what happened. Books that involve the narrator examining their own actions can get too easily bogged down, but by keeping it brief, this never happens with Barnes. There's insight into the human condition and gentle philosophy without it becoming too introspective. It's very readable literary fiction.
Older readers in particular will relate to Tony's struggle with the modernities of the current day.
It's a terrific little book and is highly recommended.
Tony is a middle class everyman. He's unexceptional and his subsequent life has been so conventional as to border on the dull, unlike the catalyst for the story Adrian Finn who is intellectually gifted and a natural philosopher of the human condition. However the friendship falls apart after the friends leave to go to university and Adrian enters into a relationship with Tony's ex-girlfriend. And that would have been that, except that many years later a mysterious letter opens up the past causing Tony to reconsider the actions of his youth.
It's a book about history and how we recall events. Tony has his memories but without evidence or corroboration, how sure can he be? Do the lessons learnt in the History classroom apply to the individual? What starts off in the manner of Alan Bennett's "History Boys" soon turns into a darker mystery as Tony is forced to face up to the actions of his younger self.
It's a joy to read. Thought provoking, beautifully observed with just enough mystery to keep you turning the pages to find out what happened. Books that involve the narrator examining their own actions can get too easily bogged down, but by keeping it brief, this never happens with Barnes. There's insight into the human condition and gentle philosophy without it becoming too introspective. It's very readable literary fiction.
Older readers in particular will relate to Tony's struggle with the modernities of the current day.
It's a terrific little book and is highly recommended.
198 of 214 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending
This first person narrative is a study in obsessive guilt. Tony Webster looks back to his first encounter with Adrian Finn, the new boy at school. Adrian is obviously a cut above the rest of the lads; he is serious, logical and inquisitive, destined for great things at Cambridge University. Years later Tony hears of his suicide, a carefully arranged affair, with appropriate notes to family, friends and authorities. He had once told Tony that Camus maintained that suicide was the only true philosophical question. The subject arose when a fellow student, Robson, hanged himself after getting his girlfriend pregnant. What possible connection could there be between the fatal decision of the mediocre student Robson, whose last words read simply `Sorry, Mum' and the signing off of the genius Adrian?
The clue - to that part of the novel at least - lies in the relationship both Tony and Adrian have with a rather classy and prickly girl known as Veronica (later Mary) Ford, whose parents Tony visits for a disastrous week-end in Chislehurst, where he is treated rudely both by Veronica's father and her brother Jack, but kindly by Mrs Ford, Veronica's mother. Only in his later years, which absorb most of the second part of this slim novel, does Tony - and possibly the reader - begin to `get it' as Veronica continually puts it about her family situation. By then we have learned of an insulting letter Tony had written to the unhappy pair, Veronica and Adrian, which may or may not have been the trigger that caused his demise. The reader will need to read the novel a second time to pick up on the clues Barnes plants regarding the abortive love affair with the hostile Veronica. In fact the whole book is about unravelling mistaken notions, discovering hidden meanings in past conversations, finding new clues to understanding the self, its delusions and unintended slights with their unforeseen consequences.
I found the book both fascinating and frustrating, as was no doubt the author's intention. It is undoubtedly a clever book, but to me, as with the same author's Flaubert's Parrot, rather too cerebral, lacking the warmth of real human relationships. There are so many things the narrator and reader do not `get'. Why, for instance, should Tony continually pursue a girl, then the girl as woman, who was only using him as a plaything? It makes no sense to him or the reader. Is it sufficient to say that it is the donnée on which the whole book rests, just as other obsessives, like for instance Kemal in The Museum of Innocence or Charles Arrowby in The Sea, The Sea, expend vast energies in pursuit hopeless causes? The difference is that both Pamuk's and Murdoch's novels delve deep into the psyches of their narrators. We understand, sympathise and forgive them, even when they are boring us. At least Barnes's novel is too short to be boring. It is indeed, extremely readable and. in its own way, strangely haunting,
This first person narrative is a study in obsessive guilt. Tony Webster looks back to his first encounter with Adrian Finn, the new boy at school. Adrian is obviously a cut above the rest of the lads; he is serious, logical and inquisitive, destined for great things at Cambridge University. Years later Tony hears of his suicide, a carefully arranged affair, with appropriate notes to family, friends and authorities. He had once told Tony that Camus maintained that suicide was the only true philosophical question. The subject arose when a fellow student, Robson, hanged himself after getting his girlfriend pregnant. What possible connection could there be between the fatal decision of the mediocre student Robson, whose last words read simply `Sorry, Mum' and the signing off of the genius Adrian?
The clue - to that part of the novel at least - lies in the relationship both Tony and Adrian have with a rather classy and prickly girl known as Veronica (later Mary) Ford, whose parents Tony visits for a disastrous week-end in Chislehurst, where he is treated rudely both by Veronica's father and her brother Jack, but kindly by Mrs Ford, Veronica's mother. Only in his later years, which absorb most of the second part of this slim novel, does Tony - and possibly the reader - begin to `get it' as Veronica continually puts it about her family situation. By then we have learned of an insulting letter Tony had written to the unhappy pair, Veronica and Adrian, which may or may not have been the trigger that caused his demise. The reader will need to read the novel a second time to pick up on the clues Barnes plants regarding the abortive love affair with the hostile Veronica. In fact the whole book is about unravelling mistaken notions, discovering hidden meanings in past conversations, finding new clues to understanding the self, its delusions and unintended slights with their unforeseen consequences.
I found the book both fascinating and frustrating, as was no doubt the author's intention. It is undoubtedly a clever book, but to me, as with the same author's Flaubert's Parrot, rather too cerebral, lacking the warmth of real human relationships. There are so many things the narrator and reader do not `get'. Why, for instance, should Tony continually pursue a girl, then the girl as woman, who was only using him as a plaything? It makes no sense to him or the reader. Is it sufficient to say that it is the donnée on which the whole book rests, just as other obsessives, like for instance Kemal in The Museum of Innocence or Charles Arrowby in The Sea, The Sea, expend vast energies in pursuit hopeless causes? The difference is that both Pamuk's and Murdoch's novels delve deep into the psyches of their narrators. We understand, sympathise and forgive them, even when they are boring us. At least Barnes's novel is too short to be boring. It is indeed, extremely readable and. in its own way, strangely haunting,
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Vine™ Review
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A masterpiece of story-telling by one of our finest novelists, rich in period atmosphere and revealing some totally unexpected and disturbing twists towards the end. For readers in the same (or slightly earliuer) age category as the narrator Tony, much of the first part will have powerful resonances - the earnest bookishness of Tony and his friends, the constant search for the meaning of life, and relationships with girls that hovered around the boundaries, but (at that stage) did not 'go all the way' - as Tony himself remarks in retrospect, the spirit of the repressed 1950s still lingered, despite the image of the swinging 60s. Brilliantly caught in this narrative is the fraught ritual of the young man staying at the home of his girl friend's parents, with a reciprocal visit following.
Barnes works in the theme of time passing, and of sudden change - not always in expected directions, as conveyed in the important symbol of the Severn Bore reversing the natural flow of water in the Bristol Channel. But the most important agent of change is Tony himself, who is guilty of that common phenomenon, 'the insenstivity of the sensitive'. The consequences of his actions only became apparent in their true awfulness much later: they explode like a bombshell just over half-way through the book. The rest of the story explores the themes of remorse and forgiveness as Tony tries to come to terms with his past. This process inevitably involves memory, the other main theme of the book, and the way the human mind summons up forgotten incidents while erasing others. Tony's attempts to dredge up the past have the added effect of shaking up his rather smug and comfortable existence since graduation, a life which he now dismisses as 'average': in short he has played safe and shied away from any real commitments.
The audiobook is an ideal medium for what is a short novel, providing an evening of compelling listening and presented by an excellent reader. Highly recommended.
Barnes works in the theme of time passing, and of sudden change - not always in expected directions, as conveyed in the important symbol of the Severn Bore reversing the natural flow of water in the Bristol Channel. But the most important agent of change is Tony himself, who is guilty of that common phenomenon, 'the insenstivity of the sensitive'. The consequences of his actions only became apparent in their true awfulness much later: they explode like a bombshell just over half-way through the book. The rest of the story explores the themes of remorse and forgiveness as Tony tries to come to terms with his past. This process inevitably involves memory, the other main theme of the book, and the way the human mind summons up forgotten incidents while erasing others. Tony's attempts to dredge up the past have the added effect of shaking up his rather smug and comfortable existence since graduation, a life which he now dismisses as 'average': in short he has played safe and shied away from any real commitments.
The audiobook is an ideal medium for what is a short novel, providing an evening of compelling listening and presented by an excellent reader. Highly recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The Imperfections of Memory
The Sense of an Ending is the story of Tony Webster written late in old age as he reflects back on his life. In his youth he dates a seemingly complex young woman, Veronica. Read more
Published 22 hours ago by Calypso
Dreary beyond belief
Quite the most dreary book i have read for a long time. Wanted to kick the utterly self piteous, wet and gormless lead in his proverbials. Read more
Published 3 days ago by Gaelen Parker
All style no substance
I found this book a real struggle to get into. Then it was all over. It's really short (150 pages) but it doesn't really go anywhere and for me lacked a real climax. Read more
Published 4 days ago by Bookreviewer
Slightly disjointed
Tony Webster recalls episodes from his early life and, ultimately, begins to understand what was going on - begins to 'get it'. Read more
Published 8 days ago by JoTownhead
How did it win the Booker?
I have to say I didn't really care for this book and how it won the Booker is quite beyond me. I felt all along that it was Julian Barnes being a rather clever at my expense: an... Read more
Published 9 days ago by Fennie Somerville
haunting and mesmerising
I loved this book. As noted, more of a novella. Beautifully written. Expertly crafted. We're given enough information at the right pace to keep our interest to the very end. Read more
Published 10 days ago by Philtrum
Sense of an ending
Well written book. I wanted to slap the main man. Self centred character or is this typical of a child that was bought up in the 60's / 70's?
More of a chaps book. Read more
More of a chaps book. Read more
Published 12 days ago by TB
Writing masterclass: the novel in microcosm
I read the first half of this novel in an hour before realising it was too good to read all in one go. Read more
Published 12 days ago by Dr. W. H. Konarzewski
A sense of quality
A lovely little book, bought for me last Christmas. Somehow, just picking up the slender hardback felt good - though I don't know why! Read more
Published 12 days ago by Mr. M. Holmes
The best thing i have read for ages
I belong to a book club, so I read a variety of stuff, some good some not. What a joy this book was, short in length, I started it on a Friday night, then woke early next morning... Read more
Published 13 days ago by jillywilly
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