Shannon's Review - The Sense Of An Ending by Julian Barnes

Title: The Sense Of An Ending
Series: None
Author: Julian Barnes
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary, Literature
Publisher: Vintage
Received: Paperback Swap
Release Date: August 2011
Pages: 163
Rating:


Author Julian Barnes Official Websites:


Website:
http://www.julianbarnes.com/

Blog:
None

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Julian-Barnes-307118768275/

Twitter:
None


Shannon’s Thoughts:

The Sense Of An Ending follows the parts of the life of Tony Webster. As a teenager, he and his two friends are avid readers and compare there lives to that of books. A new kid comes to school and the group of three become 4. They all go to college. Tony starts to date a woman named Veronica, who later dumps him and starts dating one of his friends. Then Tony who is now divorced, a father and a grandfather contemplates on the way his memory works as he recalls what happened with his life including he time with Veronica and his old friend.

There are many questions and thoughts on examining how a person remembers things. It is a very introspective book, which is usually not a good read for me. I wanted to hate the book but I did not. I did not love it either but I have a loose understanding, especially because I have such problems with my own memory.

I really disliked that we did not get to understand why the mother gave Tony the money and the reason Veronica kept telling Tony he did not get it and would never get it. I wanted to scream “JUST TELL HIM WHAT HE DOESN’T GET!” every time she said it.

I did expect that a book titled The Sense Of An Ending was not going to end in a satisfying way. It was also a short read and maybe not for everyone. I think the older you are when you read this the more you may relate.