Book of the Week

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
Recommended by Allen Li

‘We imagined we were being responsible but were only being cowardly.’ This line from Julian Barnes’ The Sense of an Ending captures the essence of the story, as the narrator’s carefully constructed sense of self begins to crumble. What he once believed to be a stable, ordinary past is overturned by fragments of memory that he has forgotten or purposefully cast aside. 

The story centres around Tony Webster, who recalls his early school days, where he and his friends were fascinated by a new student, Adrian Finn. Their group dynamic eventually begins to revolve around Adrian, who seems so insightful and self-assured for his age that he is soon elevated above the others. 

Tony then recalls his time at university, where he briefly dates a girl called Veronica Ford. However, everything begins to fall apart when Veronica meets Adrian for the first time, and the seed of insecurity is planted inside Tony. Eventually, they break up, but soon Veronica begins to date Adrian, marking the end of their friendship. Tony sends them a letter, and moves on with his life, going on a trip abroad. But when he comes back, he receives the news of Adrian’s shocking suicide. 

Decades later, Tony receives a small sum of money and Adrian’s diary left by Veronica’s mother. However, when Veronica refuses to hand Tony the diary, Tony is led on a search for answers, causing him to delve into his past and his forgotten memories. At the centre of it all is the letter he sent to Adrian and Veronica - something he had dismissed as nothing more than a childish outburst of jealousy. Yet, as the truth begins to surface, Tony begins to question whether he was as innocent as he painted himself to be, or whether his letter had carried out far darker consequences than he thought. 

The Sense of an Ending is not really a novel full of events, but of subtle revelations, forcing us to question the stories we tell about our own lives. Through Tony’s unreliable narration, Barnes reminds us how easy it is for us to distort the past to protect ourselves, but also how devastating it can be when these lies are exposed. For anyone interested in the themes of guilt and memory, similar to the themes of Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day, it is a very worthwhile read.