The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

[Fran]

This is a very short novella which, if I didn't have to go to work, I would easily and gladly have read in one sitting.

Tony Webster has lived a safe, conventional life and is now living a safe & reasonably comfortable retirement when he receives a letter advising him that he has received a bequest from a school friend of 40 years earlier. This bequest opens up a whole bank of memories of school and early adulthood & unresolved issues with a former girlfriend and the repression and frustrations of early adulthood.
How accurate are individual memories and how do misconstrued events impact on a life is at the core of this book.
The book is written in two parts ... the first centering on the schooldays of Tony and his 3 friends & is both funny and poignant. I found myself compelled to read sections out loud to my OH. All the teenage angst and conviction of superiority over teachers and parents is there.

In Part 2 Tony is retired & divorced and a series of events cast doubt on his recollection of the seminal events from his schooldays and the accuracy of the interpretation he put on those events and the significance or otherwise of his role.

A fantastic read well deserving of it's Booker shortlisting.
I loved this book and feel like starting all over and reading it again ... definitely a book that will not be leaving me for the charity shop anytime soon.

[Ben_Robson]

Definitely on my TBR!

[Maud Fitch]

After much gentle cajoling, I have finally started to read this exceptional little book. Thoughts to be advised!

[DATo]

This book contains a theme which touches upon the idea that sometimes insignificant and forgotten past events can significantly impact events in the future. In some ways it echos the theme of the movie It's A Wonderful Life - that every life in some way affects, to a greater or lesser degree, all the other lives it touches. I found it interesting that the growth and maturity of the main character was reveled through the manner in which he responds to revelations regarding events in his past life.

[Maud Fitch]

*Contains a high level of guesswork spoilers*

Let me just say from the outset that I found no sense of an ending. Is there really an ending? Author Julian Barnes has written a well executed novel but left too many loose ends and unanswered questions for my liking. Indeed, the perfect story for book club discussions and Forum debates for years to come. Nice move, Man Booker.

I, like many before me, found it hard to form a valid conclusion to self-absorbed Anthony’s memoir because his faulty recollections failed to provide concrete clues. Okay, that’s the point, it gets you thinking, but to what purpose? A tad standoffish, Mr Barnes, because most readers like some sort of closure and your slim book only delivered an inkling as to what truly happened.

It was a philosophical, sometimes insightful, narrative although I’ve read many such British stories of stock standard fare; the old school ties, the class war, the ineptitude of youthful lovers, the botched family life, the regrets of middle age and inevitable nostalgia. Just when I thought the tale was going to get interesting, Veronica pops up raving on about “you just don’t get it” forty years later. Holding a grudge much! The Will (deliberately I think) opened up a can of worms.

Can’t offer solid thoughts on what the ‘blood money’ was pertaining to or why. My guess is that it was a lure to make Anthony take the bait and confront his past.

Well, I guess we can assume that AdrianTwo was the son of AdrianOne and that the mother was Sarah. However, did Anthony blot out an affair with Sarah and could AdrianTwo have been his own son? Think hand gesture. Did he indeed blot out a lot of his dalliances with mother Sarah on that horrid weekend so when Veronica heard the memories he dredged up for her in the cafe, she wasn’t impressed because it wasn’t her? Notice she doesn’t give him any straight answers. He wallows around, right into the closing stages.

By the by, Veronica’s full name is Veronica Mary Elizabeth Ford - or that’s what she told Anthony. I think she used her second name to sound fancy and her first name is actually Mary so that’s why her ‘brother’ AdrianTwo calls her Mary. Another pet theory of mine is that Mary is related to Veronica and Veronica is the one who "died about six months ago..." (remember Anthony mused over her appearance) thus alluding to the fact that Mary and AdrianTwo were both offspring of Veronica. Half brother and sister, e.g. Mary is Anthony and Veronica's child and AdrianTwo is AdrianOne and Veronica's child. Confused yet?

Alternatively, (1) AdrianTwo could have been legitimately Sarah and her husband’s child, born with defects because of alcoholism. Also, (2), the first suicide victim Robson got his ‘girlfriend’ pregnant so perhaps mother Sarah was up to hanky panky and left both boys so deluded they hanged themselves without proof of paternity. (3) Could AdrianTwo, in fact, be Anthony and Veronica’s child because his age isn’t properly clarified? (4) Making Veronica/Mary his real mother, using ‘sister’ as a cover? Hmm.....

Whilst Anthony’s original letter was vile, I don’t think it contributed to the suicide drama which transpired. We are lead to believe that Anthony revered AdrianOne but I think it was vice versa. AdrianOne wanted to show Anthony he could die a tragically perfect death. Some books leave me feeling manipulated and I’m afraid this is one of them. The suicide parallels, the river flow, contrived classroom scenes where the ‘history’ element was introduced and done to death, the ridiculously unbelievable car trip and Anthony’s desire to reconnect with Veronica (I think she was a giant pain in the proverbial) managed to turn me off. Who’s left to like?

It was a solid read, I had to focus, it certainly wasn’t flippant. Lashings of school boy naivety seen from a distance gave it the effect of an adult exposé and proved that most things viewed from the remoteness of 40 years are distorted. And it was only Anthony’s spin on events, too. In closing, I admit I haven’t shed any new light on the non-ending. I would recommend it but I’m ambivalent about its award-winning status.

Quotation: “The young have aspirations that never come to pass, the old have reminiscences of what never happened.” ~ Saki (1870-1916)

[DATo]

RE: Reply to Maud omitting quoted text for brevity.

Maud, I do agree that Barnes does come off at times as a bit manipulative, and the story does have its contrived moments. I also felt that the characters, though well represented, always appeared as though viewed through cheesecloth - shadowy, and never really sharply defined. I also agree that there were some aspects of the story which were open to interpretation and I find many of your suggestions both fascinating and compelling. Sometimes I enjoy the challenges of interpretation and at other times I prefer the closure of which you speak.

I think what Barnes was aiming at, more than anything else, was to present a bildungsroman centering on Anthony's character. I think most of us can relate to Anthony's horror upon remembering something we have done, or attitudes we once embraced in our past life. I think Barnes was deliberately playing to those emotions. Anthony has matured and is now capable of understanding the cruel action of his youth which he had totally forgotten. He is like an unwitting fugitive who has finally been apprehended by the law and called to the court of his own conscience and found guilty.

I had totally forgotten Veronica's full name and I thank you for calling that to our attention. That definitely solves one mystery for me. Could it be, given Adrian-II's handicaps that he might have had trouble pronouncing the name 'Veronica' when he was younger and the easier, two syllable name, 'Mary', was substituted? No, I think that would be too simple. I think Barnes is doing this to set us up for the surprise which is revealed later (one example of the manipulation I spoke of above). I think there was only one Veronica. Certainly one would think Anthony would have noted the much younger age of a Veronica-II and would have expressed it in the narrative if she had been his (or Adrian's) child. I also think had Adrian-II been Anthony's child he would not have been named 'Adrain'. I think Barnes gives us enough information to draw the logical conclusion that Adrian-II is the son of Sarah and Adrian. I was first tempted to believe that Adrian-II might possibly be the son of Adrian and Veronica till Anthony was told that Mary was Adrian-II's sister by the handicapped group's attendant. I have no reason to doubt that based upon the information provided in the text.

I think the whole point of the confrontation between Veronica and Anthony in later life WAS in fact to drive home the point that Adrian's suicide WAS the direct effect of Anthony's letter, otherwise the whole point of the bildungsroman becomes moot. I think Barnes wants us to accept this. This is further supported by the fact that Sarah leaves Adrian's journal to Anthony. Neither we nor Anthony ever find out what was in the journal but the scrap which is given to Anthony suggests the possibility of his guilt in the matter. I've never been able to figure out why Veronica wouldn't give him the entire text unless (and now I am reaching, an unforgivable vice of mine) there was an absolution of Anthony's guilt expressed by Adrian or other laudatory expressions regarding Anthony contained in the text which Veronica, in her wrath, did not want Anthony to know.

It is an enigmatic story which certainly leaves some loose ends to ponder.

[Maud Fitch]

.....I think the whole point of the confrontation between Veronica and Anthony in later life WAS in fact to drive home the point that Adrian's suicide WAS the direct effect of Anthony's letter, otherwise the whole point of the bildungsroman becomes moot. I think Barnes wants us to accept this. This is further supported by the fact that Sarah leaves Adrian's journal to Anthony. Neither we nor Anthony ever find out what was in the journal but the scrap which is given to Anthony suggests the possibility of his guilt in the matter. I've never been able to figure out why Veronica wouldn't give him the entire text unless (and now I am reaching, an unforgivable vice of mine) there was an absolution of Anthony's guilt expressed by Adrian or other laudatory expressions regarding Anthony contained in the text which Veronica, in her wrath, did not want Anthony to know.....

You have given me food for thought, DATo. And I like your 'reaching' theory. Perhaps the essence of the story is the fact that the scrap of journal text was incomplete to tantalise all concerned. Was Anthony guilty or absolved of blame? This way, we are free to fashion our own ending.

[dilipbarad]

Can you please help me solve the riddle in the name of 'Veronica Mary ELizabeth Ford'?
What does 'Elizabeth' stand for?
Is is used only once in the text. There is no reference to this name. How come?

[ssued2894]

I just finished reading this book and I must say that I ended up enjoying it. I was skeptical about it at first because there were a lot of parts in it that confused me. With this said I am glad that I ended up reading the book to the end. Once you understand the book and actually get the point of it it is very good. I truly did not understand the book till the end because the ending comes around the circle and closes the story. However, I will say that I reread the ending a few times and I was not catching on so I did end up having to look it up. Once I did though everything in the story made complete sense to me and made me say hmm.. out loud lol. I would most certainly recommend this book even though it is quite confusing through most of it.