The Sense of an Ending

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

I recall stumbling into his works many years ago, some perfectly formed prose about mundane matters. Then he builds such sentences, like this:

“Back then, things were plainer: less money, no electronic devices, little fashion tyranny, no girlfriends. There was nothing to distract us from our human and filial duty, which was to study, pass exams, use those qualifications to find a job, and then put together a way of life unthreateningly fuller than that of our parents, who would approve, while privately comparing it to their own earlier lives, which had been simpler, and therefore superior.” Page 11.

And so it goes, as one novelist would write, so it goes.

“If you’ll excuse a brief history lesson: most people didn’t experience “the sixties” until the seventies.” Page 34.

Guy code, British Guy Code, “Bros. before Hoes?” With a nod to Shakespeare, “Prose before Hose?”

“Some Englishman once said that marriage is a long dull meal with the pudding served first.” Page 43.

As an author, he artfully wrapped that mid-life, what some call “The first marriage,” into a short paragraph. Still, the short novel deals with age, gracefully looking back.

“It strikes me that this may be one of the differences between youth and age: when we are young, we invent different futures for ourselves; when we are old, we invent different pasts for others.” Page 58.

The effortless nature of the prose itself, a sumptuous feast of words, and yet, economical, too, as it is a slim novel. Won the 2011 Man Booker award?

Equal parts disturbing and delightful, and what I would call typically British, yet, there’s a reason….