The Sense of an Ending

The book group assembled this week and decided that The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes was not really an appropriate read for a Christmas meeting; cheerful, festive and celebratory it is not. My previous post had resulted in two emails in quick succession suggesting, uncharitably, that the book itself was to blame for my memory lapse. In fact, having read it twice (as had my mother who joined us for the evening) I felt more satisfied than I had after my first read through and others suggested that they might read it again. There was a view that it was a little like On Chesil Beach whereby one felt unsated at the end (despite the very clever twist which none of us saw coming).

There was a general feeling that, whilst good, this book was not outstanding and we wondered whether we had all been taken in by the publisher's hype and the Booker furore. But then, how to explain the reviews which are almost universally eulogistic? Had the reviewers fallen for the hype too and were we being manipulated? Was it all a push to get Julian Barnes the prize?

We concluded that the very dullness and ordinariness of Tony and his life, whilst purposeful within the novel, was unsatisfying. We went on to discuss whether we always need or expect characters to be interesting or stimulating. Was the very point of Tony that he was neither? We talked about memory, perceptions, and the way in which shared experiences can provoke differing recollections. Was the book too short - someone said it was like a draft for a longer novel - and there was a sense that every character was underdeveloped; but was this the point? This lead to a wider consideration of the criteria for the Booker prize - there are few - and the constitution of the panel which this year looks pretty impressive and positively attractive with the addition of Dan Stevens (sigh!).

Lack of inspiration and a certain weariness brought on by the excesses of the season meant that we have agreed to free reading over the Christmas holidays with a view to choosing a classic when we meet at Maria's in January.