The Sense of An Ending

 

I suppose memories happen every single seconds. Every passing moments become memories, especially for people who want to remember it. Otherwise, that moment will get lost in time.

But memory is tricky. It's all in your head, and you're not exactly the most accurate recorder of memory. What really happened isn't always like what you remember about it. People color their memories with their feelings, their judgement, their intention, and maybe what others tell them.

This is what Julian  Barnes talked about in his book, The Sense of An Ending. It won Man Booker Prize in 2011 (before Hilary Mantel started to get it year after year, no offense), so you know it should be good. But I don't think I'll review this book in a standard long description, but I dare to say that I haven't read this kind of book for a while. It's about a man who reviewed his memories about his friend, after he received a shocking news about that friend and a stack of money from unexpected source. Things happened in his past, but did it happen the way he remembered it?

The book is short, only 163 pages long. I think you'll be able to finish it in one sit. The language is very fluid and quite easy to understand, but the concept inside it will make you think long after you finish the last page. Barnes juggled with some philosophical meditation about time, memory, love, lost, and secrets. I really recommend you to read it.

Oh, and by the way, don't blame me if you also start to think about your past, and review what you remember about it in your mind after reading this book. And don't be too surprised with what you find. Cheers.