Review: Sense of an Ending

This novel (verging on novella) was a difficult one. As was finding something to write about. Not just about this book, but in general. The inspiration to work on an extremely wonderful story idea has completely evacuated my brain. I feel that I have neglected reviewing this book, and therefore here I am. I don’t think this will be the most riveting piece of text that I will write here, but bear with me.

The Sense of an Ending. 2011 Man Booker Prize Winner, written by Julian Barnes. This book was surprising, to say the least. I didn’t know what to expect from it, just that it had to do with time, memory and other fancy stuff like that. Getting into the book, I was torn: on the one hand, I was in love with it, on the other hand, I just wanted to get through the end of it to find out this big surprise that was obviously being held back.

I would probably not read this book again but I would recommend reading it. It all started with the 65 books to read in your 20′s list: this was one of the novels listed. I dove into it expecting a grand flip in the story; from the way the story was written, the reader is made to expect something in the story, a culmination of events in the character’s life. But no. The twist doesn’t really arrive, it meanders its way through, waltzing its way into the ending as if it were the obvious choice all along. As for the writing, it was brilliant. It was written in first person, through Tony, and his memories of his life up until we meet him.

The point we get from Tony’s story: memory is fallible, people aren’t what they seem, you should never rely solely on yourself to remember your own life, and his life was pretty normal. What plagues Tony is these small interactions that bring about these “memories” that change. Once he realizes that people don’t always remember what he remembered, everything kinda changes, sorta.

I don’t really have much else to say about this book other than I do suggest reading it, but don’t expect something grand to change your life. Well, it might make you more aware of how others perceive history, but you won’t want to necessarily pick it up again.