THE SENSE OF AN ENDING

Title: The Sense of an Ending

Author:Julian Barnes

Price:Rs 299

The winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize ,need I say more :)

It is a short book,a mere 150 pages, divided into two equally short parts.But when you begin to read this one,you realize that it is much more than just a short story.It left me really thinking.One needs to be really attentive while reading this book.

The narrator Tony Webster is a retired,amicably divorced man,well into his 60's,who is revisiting some events from his past.This has been precipitated by the fact that he suddenly receives 500 pounds and the diary of an old school chum Adrian,from an ex-flames mother.He remembers his school days when he,Alex and Colin welcomes a fourth person named Adrian Finn into their close-knit group.Tony remembers Adrian as being a gifted and philosophical young man.As they grow up and go on to university,Tony gets involved with a girl named Veronica.Soon after he breaks up with her and finds out that his friend Adrian is dating her.They grow apart and one day Adrian commits suicide.Tony now recounts the events that he think led to his suicide.

We soon come to know that Tony is not a reliable narrator and has misconstrued some details about his past."What you end up remembering isn't always the same as what you have witnessed"is what the narrator tells us early on.This book tells us that some instinct of self-preservation always prevents us from recounting what exactly happens in the past and so we end up changing those facts to the point that we believe that what happened is exactly the way we recall it to be.

The end ,left me shocked and speechless.How the narrator ,tries to justify his behavior and seek redemption is what the book is all about.

Do not read it on a particularly bad day is all I can say.I ended up getting involved in the story and being numbed by it.It was very hard to stop thinking about it even after it was over.It reveals the stark truth in the lines Tony says "When we are young, we invent different futures for ourselves,when we are old,we invent different pasts for others."

I rate it a 4 out of 5