The Sense of an Ending has won prizes and praise but was it a winner with the club?
November saw the Tyneside Book Club read Julian Barnes' Booker Prize-winning novel The Sense of an Ending.
Novella-length, the book is split into two distinct sections. Firstly, we deal with narrator Tony's youth and his memories of friendships and a painful and awkward end to his first serious relationship. In the second, those almost-forgotten events bleed in to the present day, as Tony discovers he has misrepresented events in terms of his memories and judgements.
Members generally agreed the novel was well-written and skilfully explored the reliability of memory. There was philosophy as well as pure narrative.
But members struggled with difficult characters. Some had sympathy with Tony, but others found him boring and unengaging. Others, especially Veronica, were very unsympathetic and hard to like.
The ending pulls the rug on a lot of assumptions made by Tony's and the reader, effectively and profoundly for some. Others though found the conclusion hard to believe, and were left with unanswered questions. Perhaps Julian Barnes was intentionally leaving threads untied, but some felt frustrated.
The Sense of an Ending did though make members reflect on their own lives and memories and how much they can be trusted as objective truth. Some said they would be interested to explore more of Barnes's work.
Next month the group takes a break from reading a choice for the joys of the annual Christmas party! January's choice is Academy Street by Mary Costello.
Novella-length, the book is split into two distinct sections. Firstly, we deal with narrator Tony's youth and his memories of friendships and a painful and awkward end to his first serious relationship. In the second, those almost-forgotten events bleed in to the present day, as Tony discovers he has misrepresented events in terms of his memories and judgements.
Members generally agreed the novel was well-written and skilfully explored the reliability of memory. There was philosophy as well as pure narrative.
But members struggled with difficult characters. Some had sympathy with Tony, but others found him boring and unengaging. Others, especially Veronica, were very unsympathetic and hard to like.
The ending pulls the rug on a lot of assumptions made by Tony's and the reader, effectively and profoundly for some. Others though found the conclusion hard to believe, and were left with unanswered questions. Perhaps Julian Barnes was intentionally leaving threads untied, but some felt frustrated.
The Sense of an Ending did though make members reflect on their own lives and memories and how much they can be trusted as objective truth. Some said they would be interested to explore more of Barnes's work.
Next month the group takes a break from reading a choice for the joys of the annual Christmas party! January's choice is Academy Street by Mary Costello.
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