The Sense of an Ending
by Julian Barnes · first published 2011
67% recommend22% neutral11% critical
Why HN recommends it
A short, precise novel about memory, self-deception, and looking back on a past one has misread. It is an exploration of memory and introspection that rewards rereading.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
By an acclaimed writer at the height of his powers, The Sense of an Ending extends a streak of extraordinary books that began with the best-selling Arthur & George and continued with Nothing to Be Frightened Of and, most recently, Pulse. This intense new novel follows a middle-aged man as he contends with a past he has never much thought about—until his closest childhood friends return with a vengeance, one of them from the grave, another maddeningly present. Tony Webster thought he’d left all this behind as he built a life for himself, and by now his marriage and family and career have fa
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…8/10 The Code of the Woosters 8/10 Fooled by Randomness 7/10 Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life 8/10 How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia 9/10 Reluctant Fundamentalist 9/10 The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes 8/10 The Last Question - Asimov - 9/10 The Magic of Thinking Big - 6/10 The catcher in the Rye 8/10 Models 7/10 High Fidelity - Nick Hornby 8/10 The Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?” ↗Have you read A Sense of an Ending, by Julian Barnes? It's a stunning exploration of those same themes: memory, introspection, self-deception.
on “Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)” ↗Philip Roth's 'Indignation. Julian Barnes 'The sense of an ending'. And a few other novels. Plus I'm reading 'The Price of Civilization: Reawakening American Virtue and Prosperity by Jeffrey Sachs. I would recommend one and all.
on “Ask HN: What are you reading? What've you read lately?” ↗I really liked a quote from Julian Barnes' The Sense Of An Ending. One of the characters answers the teacher's question "what is history?" with "History is the lies of the victors,” to which the history teacher responds, “Well, as long as you remember that it is also…
on “Caesar and the Pirates” ↗…Code of the Woosters 8/10 Fooled by Randomness 7/10 Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life 8/10 How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia 9/10 Reluctant Fundamentalist 9/10 The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes 8/10 The Last Question - Asimov - 9/10 The Magic of Thinking Big - 6/10 The catcher in the Rye 8/10 Models 7/10 High Fidelity - Nick Hornby 8/10 The Ocean at the End of the Lane…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2015?” ↗"The Sense of an Ending" is a good book (then movie) with this theme (although in the opposite way) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sense_of_an_Ending
on “The past is not true” ↗The Sense of an Ending, by Julian Barnes. I first heard about it in Michael Lewis' Vanity Fair profile on Obama (Obama was reading it - http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/10/michael-lewis-pro...), and then my cofounder…
on “Ask HN: Best books you read in 2012” ↗I've tried to read " a sense of an ending" about 5 times and simply cannot get into it. I've read insane amounts of books across all subjects and categories. I have no idea how this book constantly comes to the top of best books lists.
on “The Greatest Books of All Time” ↗The book Sense of an Ending describes such a grand life as "the life of literature". Hemingway lived the life of literature.
on “Argo and the Life of Ernest Hemingway” ↗