The title of Barne’s best-selling book is borrowed from a book of the same name by Frank Kermode, that’s aim was to make sense of the ways we try to make sense of our lives. The Sense Of An Ending follows similar footsteps as it explores the concept of how we can remember our pasts differently and how one person’s understanding of a situation isn’t always the whole picture.

Looking at how characters develop over time, this book can teach us all a lot about how we treat other people when we don’t know all of the circumstances. Barne’s writing is genius, really making you reflect on your own life and at how you can learn from Tony’s mistakes to better yourself. We’ve all done things that we regret, but what The Sense Of An Ending does is show you that we’ve all been there.

“Again, I must stress that this is my reading now of what happened then. Or rather, my memory now of my reading then of what was happening at the time.”

Highlighting themes of reliability and truthfulness and looking at how age can affect our memories, the book looks at how we can forget about the good days when thinking about bad people and events, and how hindsight can change your perspective on everything.

It’s a really interesting narrative that is beautifully written. We can all look back on hard times and remember the worst of things, but it’s not until you’ve been given all of the insight that you can understand something fully; that you can truly tell a story from the beginning to make sense of its ending.

“What you end up remembering isn’t always the same as what you have witnessed.”

However, whilst I took a lot away from the messages in the story, I wasn’t particularly invested in the story or characters. It’s definitely a slow burn of a book, although it is also very short and readable, which is what makes it so easy to take a lot away from.

There are definitely two sides to the story, however. One that feels very straightforward, and another that is so much more.