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The Sense of an Ending [Kindle Edition]

Julian Barnes (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (484 customer reviews)
Print List Price: £7.99
Kindle Price: £3.67 includes VAT* & free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
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Product Description

Review

"A masterpiece... I would urge you to read - and re-read - The Sense of an Ending" (Daily Telegraph )

"Mesmerising... the concluding scenes grip like a thriller - a whodunit of memory and morality" (Independent )

"A very fine book, skilfully plotted, boldly conceived... Barnes has achieved...something of universal importance" (Justin Cartwright Observer )

"A precise, poignant portrait of the costs and benefits of time passing, of friendship, of love. A small masterpiece" (Erica Wagner The Times )

"A wonderful story that is all too human and all so real" (Irish Times )

Book Description

Winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 2011 and a Sunday Times bestseller - this is a brilliant novel from a writer at the very height of his powers
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Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 406 KB
  • Print Length: 160 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage Digital (4 Aug 2011)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B005E87GLY
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • X-Ray: Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (484 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #904 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Sharply written and conceived ... until the end 10 April 2012
By Dave
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Firstly, if you're looking for a short, intense read, this is the book for you. The brevity of Barnes' text is both its strong point and also its downfall - the ending was just too abrupt for me. I do like an ending which challenges me and forces me to question events that have happened earlier, but I found this book's ending to be vague and annoying. Maybe the title 'The Sense of an Ending' is exactly what the reader gets!

The book does have a lot of stuff to enjoy. The character of Veronica is one of the best I've read in the past few years - she's enigmatic, interesting and never fails to surprise. I also liked the themes about memories and corroboration; I agree with Barnes' view that we sometimes remember events differently from how they actually were.

My favourite aspect of the book was the language. The speech between Tony and his mates, especially at school, felt very real, and the sort of talk you would hear in everyday life. There's also a lot of humour in the beginning, which helps break up the dark subject matter.

The only thing that lets 'The Sense of an Ending' down is the ending ...
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475 of 497 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Full of delicate observation and insight - short but almost perfectly formed 9 Aug 2011
By Ripple TOP 50 REVIEWER
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.... Read more ›
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251 of 270 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Cerebration 24 Aug 2011
By Mr. D. James
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
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.... Read more ›
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25 of 27 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting 6 May 2012
By RennyRoo
Format:Hardcover
The Sense of an Ending is a tiny book - merely 150 pages - and I think most of the people will regard it as a quick read, but that is where they are wrong. I don't think that this book is meant to be read in one go or over few days. It is more of a book that is better to be read in bite sizes to get the most of it. It feels like this book is offering a mirror to each reader and it is up to every one of us whether we decide to reflect upon our lives when reading the book or just take it at a face value and read just the story as it is.

The story itself is a reminiscence of a childhood and adulthood of a retired man, who is forced through some current events to see his past and its consequences in completely different light. For me, the story itself would have been interesting enough to read, but what I found more intriguing was that the book was literally littered by provoking thoughts. When I read a book, I always mark any interesting parts that I would like to either quote or go back to when I finish the book. With this book I marked 39 of them! Some of them are sentences, some are paragraphs. I don't think I can say that I was reading this book. I think it is more accurate to say that I was working through the book. I read few pages (sometimes just few paragraphs), I paused, I reflected, I let the book work on me and I continued when I was ready to continue. This book took me on an incredible journey and when I finished it, I was lost for words. And believe me, that doesn't happen often. And then, out of nowhere, great sadness washed over me because of the though, that we all have great and highly treasured memories, that we are fond off and no one can guarantee us, that what we remember is actually what happened and how it happened.... Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Deserving but atypical Booker Winner
A confusing title for a review perhaps, but chosen as I am often interested to read the Booker winners but find them difficult to grasp or a challenging rather than enjoyable... Read more
Published 3 days ago by Nicola Wilson
5.0 out of 5 stars The sense of an ending
Fantastic book with a clever twist. This is the first book I have read by Julian Barnes, and without a doubt I shall be reading the ret of his published works. Read more
Published 4 days ago by Catherine Williams
5.0 out of 5 stars Breathtaking
Everyone should read this book and make their own opinion: you will either love it or hate it.

I love it.

Beautiful.
Published 10 days ago by Jem26
3.0 out of 5 stars The sense of an ending
This was a strange book.... I thought it was. I have no interest in any of his other books to read. It was better nearer the end. Cheers sheila
Published 15 days ago by S. J. Urquhart
4.0 out of 5 stars Tony Webster
"History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation. Read more
Published 17 days ago by Robin Friedman
1.0 out of 5 stars Depressing, boring, don't waste your time
This is not Julian Barnes' finest hour. This is a disappointing read, that left me feeling I wished I hadn't wasted my time on something as downbeat.
Published 19 days ago by B&B Owner
4.0 out of 5 stars Recommended by a friend
This book was recommended by a male friend of mine and as I am always reading books by women I thought I would give it a go. Read more
Published 20 days ago by Celia Culworth
4.0 out of 5 stars ending book
i chose 4 stars as i really enjoyed this book it took me a little while to get into it but by the time i was at the end of the book i was wanting motre, very good twist to the... Read more
Published 21 days ago by jackie boothroyd
3.0 out of 5 stars Read in 2 hours
Pacts are made when you are a teenager, life is never going to change we'll always ben in touch and friends forever. Read more
Published 22 days ago by ED Farr
3.0 out of 5 stars Review of The Sense of an Ending
This was a reasonably short book but was thought provoking regarding the way in which people do not consider the consequential damage to their action and also how perspectives can... Read more
Published 24 days ago by Martin Grant
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‘“History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation.” &quote;
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Sometimes I think the purpose of life is to reconcile us to its eventual loss by wearing us down, by proving, however long it takes, that life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. &quote;
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‘History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation.’ &quote;
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