I read this book because I'm working my way through books that have won the man booker award as a sort of book project. I usually love books that are introspective but this one left me with a sour memory.
It was written in an utterly pretentious way with none of the depth that the writer was obviously hoping and desperately attempting to instill into the book. None of the characters were likeable or even relate able because they in no way connected with each other.
Yes it's a short book and I did read the whole thing but only out of curiosity as to why exactly this book was awarded anything. Seems to me there were many other more deserving contenders in 2011 that should have beaten this pretentious opaque pile of paper.
It was written in an utterly pretentious way with none of the depth that the writer was obviously hoping and desperately attempting to instill into the book. None of the characters were likeable or even relate able because they in no way connected with each other.
Yes it's a short book and I did read the whole thing but only out of curiosity as to why exactly this book was awarded anything. Seems to me there were many other more deserving contenders in 2011 that should have beaten this pretentious opaque pile of paper.
Helpful Score: 1
No thanks, this reads like something an angrey English Professor would have MADE me read in college. It could not grab my attention at all and despite its short number of pages, I could get through the first 30!
Helpful Score: 1
The Sense of an Ending is a well-crafted retrospective evaluation of the meaning of life, time, and perspective; I can easily see why it was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2011. In Part I, Tony Webster, a self-described peaceable retiree tells us about his adolescent friendships and first failed love; a mysterious legacy jolts him into re-evaluating his life forty years later in Part II, set in modern-day England. Julian Barnes's prose draws you in—it is very easy to keep reading despite the frequent sub-chapter breaks. What Tony says about his friend, "so [he] would take you along on the journey of his thought as if he himself didn't quite believe the ease with which he was travelling ... he made you feel you were his co-thinker, even if you said nothing," (p. 96) applies to this story as well. Thematically it reminds me of Kazuo Ishiguro's work. I enjoyed this new addition to the 2012 version of 1001 books you must read before you die.
A beautifully written novella that plays with memory, its unreliability and persistence, and the way one crucial episode on our lives can come back to haunt us.
In the hands of a lesser writer, this would have been three times as long, and unbearably self-indulgent. At 150 pages, it's exactly right: enough to build up the background and personality of Tony Webster, establish the otherwise mundane mystery that comes with an unexpected legacy from the mother of an ex-girlfriend, and delicately unravel the sorry truth that emerges from the solution to that mystery.
I find it interesting that a novel that is about the unreliability of memory, the lies we tell ourselves, and the way we rewrite our lives' narratives, the blurb quoted here is just dead wrong on one important point: when it says that Tony ... contends with a past he has never much thought about .... No, I'd say its pretty clear that he has never stopped thinking about those events in his early twenties, and brooding on them. As I was reading, it occurred to me that this novel has a lot in common with another great story about memory, and the life-shattering effects of an incident in youth -- "The Go-Between." Like that great novel, the past is a foreign country ..., and Tony Webster is only just realizing that he is a foreigner in his own life.
In the hands of a lesser writer, this would have been three times as long, and unbearably self-indulgent. At 150 pages, it's exactly right: enough to build up the background and personality of Tony Webster, establish the otherwise mundane mystery that comes with an unexpected legacy from the mother of an ex-girlfriend, and delicately unravel the sorry truth that emerges from the solution to that mystery.
I find it interesting that a novel that is about the unreliability of memory, the lies we tell ourselves, and the way we rewrite our lives' narratives, the blurb quoted here is just dead wrong on one important point: when it says that Tony ... contends with a past he has never much thought about .... No, I'd say its pretty clear that he has never stopped thinking about those events in his early twenties, and brooding on them. As I was reading, it occurred to me that this novel has a lot in common with another great story about memory, and the life-shattering effects of an incident in youth -- "The Go-Between." Like that great novel, the past is a foreign country ..., and Tony Webster is only just realizing that he is a foreigner in his own life.
A very British novella/meditation on memory and truth. It was a quick read and kept my interest. I wanted to know the answers to the mystery behind the bequest to the protagonist. Overall though, not a compelling enough work for me to recommend to others.
A moving read about growing older and coming to an understanding of the consequences of our youthful misbehaviors.
This is a very engaging story and a definite page-turner. It is a book that contains great emotion and sucks you in until the last page. The surprise ending and the excellent writing make this a very memorable read. I highly recommend it.
