Blog this item

The Sense of an Ending

By Julian Barnes

(84)

| Others | 9780224094153

Like The Sense of an Ending?
Join aNobii to see if your friends read it, and discover similar books!

Critics

Book Review: The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes Share

Arthur & George was the first book I read of Julian Barnes and The Sense of an Ending is my second. In Arthur and George there was a big surprise and there are twists in The Sense of an Ending as well. Oh! And Arthur and George made it to the short l ... (read full critics)

blogcritics published on Tue, 10 Apr 2012

'The Sense of an Ending': A Jury of His Peers

What kind of novel is The Sense of an Ending? In tenor, it sutures the characteristics of its Booker Prize-winning antecedents—Kazuo Ishiguro’s measured, elegiac The Remains of the Day; Ian McEwan’s cryptic, macabre Amsterdam. Its equable narrator, T ... (read full critics)

popmatters published on Tue, 10 Jan 2012

See all critics

12 Reviews

1 person find this helpful

劇情令人意外，但重點不是劇情，它要講的重點是：「話會傷人。」「記憶不可靠。」
大年初一晚上看到有人大力推薦，上網看了兩篇沒爆雷的書評，實在太吊人胃口，於是上kindle買了，兩個小時內飆完，實在太好看了。
這不是一本看完會開心的書，但我想，人到了一個年紀，會理解這本書的用意其實不是那些令人意外的劇情安排，而是書裡的兩句話：“It strikes me that this may be one of the differences between youth and age: when we are young, we invent different futures for ourselv ... (continue)

劇情令人意外，但重點不是劇情，它要講的重點是：「話會傷人。」「記憶不可靠。」
大年初一晚上看到有人大力推薦，上網看了兩篇沒爆雷的書評，實在太吊人胃口，於是上kindle買了，兩個小時內飆完，實在太好看了。
這不是一本看完會開心的書，但我想，人到了一個年紀，會理解這本書的用意其實不是那些令人意外的劇情安排，而是書裡的兩句話：“It strikes me that this may be one of the differences between youth and age: when we are young, we invent different futures for ourselves; when we are old, we invent different pasts for others.”
"How often do we tell our own life story? How often do we adjust, embellish, make sly cuts? And the longer life goes on, the fewer are those around to challenge our account, to remind us that our life is not our life, merely the story we have told about our life. Told to others, but - mainly - to ourselves."

Is this helpful?

whatever said on Jan 24, 2012 | Add your feedback

1 person find this helpful

A poignant novella on death, and ageing. Don't read it if you are less than 50: you are not likely to fully understand the protagonist's confusion and disillusion.

Is this helpful?

rayuela said on Aug 15, 2011 | Add your feedback

這是一本會讓人看到最後馬上回去從頭開始看起的小說，在一個老男人回憶的思緒裡，歷史與現實交錯，最後的最後，沒有任何人是贏家，也沒有任何人是輸家，只有倖存者。
My article on this novel in Chinese:
http://bookintersubjectivity.blogspot.com/2012/04/sense…
I survived. “He survived to tell the tale”--that’s what people say, don’t they? History isn’t the lies of the vi ... (continue)

這是一本會讓人看到最後馬上回去從頭開始看起的小說，在一個老男人回憶的思緒裡，歷史與現實交錯，最後的最後，沒有任何人是贏家，也沒有任何人是輸家，只有倖存者。
My article on this novel in Chinese:
http://bookintersubjectivity.blogspot.com/2012/04/sense…
I survived. “He survived to tell the tale”--that’s what people say, don’t they? History isn’t the lies of the victors […]; I know that now. It’s more the memories of the survivors, most of whom are neither victorious nor defeated. (p. 61)

Is this helpful?

Nana Chen said on May 4, 2012 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

o

Is this helpful?

Alison said on May 2, 2012 | Add your feedback

"But time... how time first grounds us and then confounds us. We thought we were being mature when we were only being safe. We imagined we were being responsible but we were only being cowardly. What we called realism turned out to be a way of avoiding things rather than facing them. Time... give us ... (continue)

"But time... how time first grounds us and then confounds us. We thought we were being mature when we were only being safe. We imagined we were being responsible but we were only being cowardly. What we called realism turned out to be a way of avoiding things rather than facing them. Time... give us enough time and our best-supported decisions will seem wobbly, our certainties whimsical."

Is this helpful?

The Trash Palace said on Mar 29, 2012 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

With a suspenseful plot, textured, in-depth characterizations, and concise, absolutely powerful writing, this book is trmendous in every sense.
From its ambiguous, dream-like opening to the seemingly harmless flashbacks to years of youth spent in pursuits of truth and love, this narration of an old ... (continue)

With a suspenseful plot, textured, in-depth characterizations, and concise, absolutely powerful writing, this book is trmendous in every sense.
From its ambiguous, dream-like opening to the seemingly harmless flashbacks to years of youth spent in pursuits of truth and love, this narration of an old man suddenly takes a steep turn for the sad and disturbing halfway through and ventures into the unforseeable for the rest of the book. It's to the credit of the astonishing imagination and penmanship of the author that such a plausible, ostensibly ordinary life story should keep you riveted and on edge the entire time- whether it's with charm, shock, mystery or deep self-refelction. While the overall structure of the story is a bit McEwan-esque/ Atonement-ish, the genius of its final, table-turning reveal and the pure brilliance of its words are not to be denied.
Indeed, words! What words does this novel have! Barnes speaks through the placid, level tone of his narrator and finds such magnificent ways to express guilt, remorse, melancholy and unfulfillment it just soars to all kinds of artistic heights and strikes you down to the deepest of emotional lows. The honesty, clear-headedness and fearlessness with which the narrator breaks down his own lies and self-delusions are beautiful and devastating in equal measure. That the book's words shook me to the core is both the reason why I'm giving it the highest praise but not the highest grade. It just scares and depresses me too much.
That said, this is a novel not to be missed. It's rare to read something that, within such limited space, goes so deep into the inner workings of the mind, works so singlemindedly with the mysteries of the heart and comes up with conclusions of the human experience so remarkably naked and true they resound and haunt.

Is this helpful?

Tony Su said on Mar 29, 2012 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback