Fiction Review: ‘The Sense of an Ending’ by Julian Barnes
My book group makes me nervous. Very often the choice of book is something I just can’t get through, despite being well written (Wolf Hall), or it’s something I would have enjoyed a few years ago but find boring now (The Mayor of Casterbridge), or I find it completely unbelievable (The Neon Rain), or I think it’s pretentious nonsense (most of them). In return, I inflict dragons and gender-bending aliens on them, so I suppose it evens out in the end. But occasionally, it’s an unreservedly enjoyable read, as here. This is probably not a book I would have picked up voluntarily (in my experience, anything within hailing distance of the Man Booker prizes is to be avoided at all costs), but I found it a pleasant, easy read. Tony is an elderly man looking back to his youth and certain events there, and he seems a nice enough, if […]