The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

The Sense of an Ending, written by author Julian Branes is a contemporary fiction that focuses on the life of ‘Tony Webster’ , a man who lived a pretty ‘normal’ life until certain events concerning his friend brings up things from the past. It is 150 pages, short read with an underlying theme of ponderings on time, life, history, history as we know, history we choose to know, etc.

The book is very easy to read and follow, with the use of figurative language that makes one deep dive into aspects of memory, past experiences, the way we choose to remember the past which we often tailor and edit to suit the narrative we wish to believe and remember. In the story, Webster is met with the repercussions of the things said and done in the past, which creates a deeper impact and a sense of regret in him as he remembers and re assembles his memories . This is also what made me enjoy the book a lot.

As much as I loved this book, I also feel that it might not be everyone’s cup of tea. If you miss out on the philosophical aspect of the story, then the plot might seem very plain and uneventful.

I am a person who loves figurative expressions, and thus liked a number of quotes in this book.

‘History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation.’ This quote remains intact in my head because of the fact that I am a history teacher, and I often question the authenticity of the history we know and teach students, and how can we know for sure what we see is the truth.

This leads me to the next favorite quote – ‘as the witnesses to your life diminish, there is less corroboration and therefore less certainty, as to what you are and have been.’

Few other quotes which I cannot ignore are:

‘Nature being violent and destructive, putting us in our place’.

‘Central problem of history: the question of subjective vs. objective interpretation, the fact that we need to know the history of the historian in order to understand the version that is being put in front of us.’

So beautiful , so relevant and deep. I would definitely re-read this book.