Wednesday, December 7, 2011

The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes


This is the second book we’re discussing in the new-ish book club I’m part of. Compared to the first book (Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut), it’s definitely lighter, easier to read, but not any less mind boogling.

The story is set in the 60s about a group English school boys in their teenage years, being sex-hungry and book-hungry. A large part of the book is dedicated to their teenage years and as they moved on with their life, they got out of touch, got married, divorced, killed themselves, well one of them did. It became more interesting and fast-paced for me round about the ¾ mark where the narrator Anthony Webster found out his eccentric ex-gf’s mother left him 2 documents and 500 pounds when she died. He then went on a journey to reclaim the documents which were in the ex-gf’s possession, and through the process, found himself going back into history and wondered if the events that happened in the past gave any hints to why he was given the estate, 40 years later.

My verdict – twisted endings are always my favourites but I thought Barnes spent way too much time laying the ground work. Bonus points given for managing to cramp the whole story in 176 pages. Interesting read and a great choice for book clubs as there are so much to discuss and talk about.

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