The Sense of an Ending
is a little book that won a big prize. Depending
on whether you count “blanks” as “pages,” the book comes in somewhere between 155
and 175 pages in length. Julian Barnes
packed so much into these few pages, however, that he won the 2011 Man Booker
for his efforts. But it is only when this
character-driven novella finally shifts its emphasis to a dramatic plot
development that the author’s aims become clear.
Tony Webster, now in his early sixties, has retired and is
content with his rather solitary lifestyle.
However, when he learns that he is to receive a bequest from a woman he
barely knew, Tony is forced to reminisce about his past and some of the key
players from his schooldays, particularly Adrian Finn and Veronica Ford. Adrian, a late-comer to Tony’s central London
school, was almost immediately accepted into their circle by Tony and his other
two friends. Adrian’s obvious
intelligence soon made him a favorite of his teachers, and the way he handled
himself in and outside of class made each of the other three boys want to claim
him as “best friend.” Veronica Ford,
whom Adrian later met at university, was his first serious girlfriend. That she would be stolen from him by a young
man like Adrian comes as no surprise.
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| Julian Barnes |
But life goes on, as it always will. Tony and his friends, Veronica included,
manage to drift apart over the years despite their avowed intention to remain
friends forever. Even their proposed
reunions come to little or nothing. Time
passes – and Tony believes that he understands his past as well as he ever
will. Decades later, he will be
astounded to learn how little he was right about.
The Sense of an Ending
is deceptively simple at times, and frustratingly opaque at others, but it is a
memorable piece of fiction. Whether or
not the most deserving book has been
chosen for each of the major literary prizes awarded each year is always
arguable – and is always argued by
book lovers. That will certainly be the
case with the 2011 winner of the Man Booker.
Whichever side of the question one comes down on, however, it is
difficult to argue this is not a beautifully crafted piece of fiction that will
have readers discussing it for years to come.
Rated at: 4.5
I'm really looking forward to this one. I miss reading Barnes - I stopped after the disappointment of England, England, but I've loved so many of his books that it's time I went back.
ReplyDeleteBarnes is certainly not for everyone (but, then, who is?), Deniz, but I do generally enjoy reading him. I have, though, not read "England, England," and I'm sorry to hear that it disappointed you. I need to take a look at that one sometime.
ReplyDeleteWe live life with the assumption that age and time erode our memories of the past - that pain mitigates, and joy too looses it's ecstasy. If it sounds like a gross generalization, at least this is what I, as a 26 year old, had so long believed. In this poignant and tragic account of a 60 year old looking back at his life - indeed, all the way back to his school days - Julian Barnes (or rather Tony Webster) argues otherwise.
ReplyDeleteReconciled to a lonely life, Tony Webster is past the stage of responsibility; way past. As he waits for the inevitable end to his days - no, it's not an illness, but presumably a state of mind - a letter from a lawyer stirs memories of a long forgotten past; memories even he had thought his mind to be incapable of conjuring. As the events unfold, he is forced to reevaluate his old relationships, reconsider the consequences of his actions, and indeed, re-imagine his past.
The title is apt to the point of being 'philosophically self-evident', for this is a book about a past that is never stagnant, a remorse that is incurable, and a grief that is inconsolable.