The Sense of an Ending

The Sense of an Ending is told through the eyes of a retired Englishman who is suddenly forced to revisit his past when the mother of his ex-girlfriend bequeaths him the diary of his long deceased friend. This diary which the narrator believes holds the key to his friend’s suicide is held back by his ex-girlfriend for unknown reasons and in his efforts to get it back, the narrator walks through the foggy lanes of his memory to understand the events of his past.

The Sense of an Ending takes interesting digs at memory, perspectives and raises question at the concept of objectivity at both individual level(through the eyes of the author) and a group level(through the discourses on history that the narrator remembers). The narrator takes you from his own impulsive declaration that “history is the lies of the victors” in response to a question posed by his history teacher, to his own realization at a later point in his life that it is neither the lies of the victors nor the delusions of the defeated but “ more the memories of the survivors, most of whom are neither victorious nor defeated.” 

Told from such a viewpoint, The Sense of an Ending actually blurs out so many, what you feel are, important parts of the story through the narrator’s bias developed due to his own insecurities and, as he describes it, his “instinct of self-preservation.”. The story told is, but, the narrator’s memories of what happened and although you will simply accept what he says in the first part of the book when he narrates his life story, it is in the second part of the book when you will really begin to see through his subjective personality and begin to realize that the truth is something else. And you frantically wait for him to take you down his memory lanes, so that you can view the incidents without his tinted view to unravel the truth which is revealed only in the last few pages of the book.

The Sense of an Ending brings in a deep sense of loss when it depicts the loss of human objectivity in the interest of self-preservation and the consequences it leads to. Although a gripping read, it ends with a note of remorse and leaves you feeling helpless and in a state of “unrest”.