Birthday Book Recs 4/50 : The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

Thoughts on Books

Dec 9

Birthday Book Recs: 4/50
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

Reading Julian Barnes’ 2011 Booker-winning novel was the first time I wondered why we, as readers (or consumers of film or etcetcetc), are so prompted to look for a “redemptive” narrative arc. I mean, I know why, because I thought about it a lot and then wrote about this book for The Curator: “Redemption: It’s what allows us to look more closely, more admirably at something – a person, a town, a movie – that we may have earlier deemed uncomfortable, or maybe even repellent. To move from hopeless or helpless, to saved and restored is what differentiates redemption from ‘improvement.’” It was also the first time I considered that the “point” of a great novel is that there’s a lot unsaid; that a novel can’t tell everything. (It has to end, after all!) Just like — a ha — we ourselves can’t tell everything because we might forget or bury parts of our own story.

The Sense of an Ending is a fairly quick read — almost novella-like — and uses the character of malaise-infused Tony Webster to explore a life’s trajectory and how different people interact with it. Upon re-reading my almost 14-year-old Curator piece, I realized I kinda like it! (You can read it here.)

{PS: This particular shelf is accessible from my loft-like office. It’s 16 shelves up from the bottom floor. If you zoom into the 2nd image below, you may be able to decipher a glass “half wall” that I can reach over to access these books.}