The Sense of An Ending

December 2012 Book Selection

The Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, December 13th at 7 p.m. in the meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our December book: The Sense of An Ending by Julian Barnes.

Discussion questions are below.

Here are some links for additional background and information:

NY Times Obituary for literary critic Frank Kermode, author of The Sense of An Ending

Some videos of the Severn Bore

The Wobbly Bridge in London (aka the Millenium Bridge)

An interesting analysis of the “mathematical” equation in Adrian’s diary

Wikipedia investigation into the meaning of “peripeteia”

Coming up, we have the following titles to look forward to reading:

Thurs. January 10    One Amazing Thing by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Tues. February 12    The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell

Tues. March 12         Train Dreams by Denis Johnson

Thanks for reading with us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.

Beth Bailey-Gates

Friends of the Fairfax Library

Discussion Questions

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

1. What does the title mean to you?

2. The novel opens with a handful of water-related images. What is the significance of each? How does Barnes use water as a metaphor?

3. The phrase “Eros and Thanatos,” or sex and death, comes up repeatedly in the novel. What did you take it to mean?

4. At school, Adrian says, “we need to know the history of the historian in order to understand the version that is being put in front of us” (p. 13). How does this apply to Tony’s narration?

5. Did Tony love Veronica? How did his weekend with her family change their relationship?

6. When Mrs. Ford told Tony, “Don’t let Veronica get away with too much” (p. 31), what did she mean? Why was this one sentence so important?

7. Veronica accuses Tony of being cowardly, while Tony considers himself peaceable. Whose assessment is more accurate?

8. What is the metaphor of the Severn Bore? Why does Tony’s recollection of Veronica’s presence change?

9. Why did Tony warn Adrian that Veronica “had suffered damage a long way back?” (p. 46). What made him suspect such a thing? Do you think he truly believed it?

10. In addition to Adrian’s earlier statement about history, Barnes offers other theories: Adrian also says, “History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation” (p. 18), and Tony says, “History isn’t the lies of the victors . . .It’s more the memories of the survivors, most of whom are neither victorious nor defeated” (p. 61). Which of these competing notions do you think is most accurate? Which did Tony come to believe?

11. Discuss the character Margaret. What role does she play in Tony’s story?

12. Why does Mrs. Ford make her bequest to Tony, after so many years? And why does Veronica characterize the £500 as “blood money”?

13. After rereading the letter he sent to Adrian and Veronica, Tony claims to feel remorse. Do you believe him? What do his subsequent actions tell us?

14. When Veronica refuses to turn over the diary to Tony, why doesn’t he give up? Why does he continue to needle her for it?

15. What is Tony’s opinion of himself? Of Adrian? How do both opinions change by the end of the novel?

16. How does the revelation in the final pages change your understanding of Veronica’s actions?

17. Discuss the closing lines of the novel: “There is accumulation. There is responsibility. And beyond these, there is unrest. There is great unrest” (p. 163).

18. Would you describe Tony Webster as an "unreliable yet sincere narrator"? What do you think of Tony Webster? Is your impression at odds with what Tony Webster thinks of Tony Webster? Do you know anyone who’s like him? Does he remind you of you? When did it occur to you that Tony is not a trustworthy witness to his own life? That you may know more about him than he does? How does Barnes achieve this effect?

19. To what extent do you think Julian Barnes uses “peripeteia,” the unexpected twist in plot, to encourage the reader to adjust their expectations?

20. The Sense of an Ending is a novel about the imperfections of memory. What insight does it give the reader into ageing and memory?

21. Is the ending unforeseen, does it leave you with a sense of unease?

22. There are several references in the book to Ted Hughes - the poet who famously destroyed sections of the diaries of his ex-wife Sylvia Plath after her suicide (as Veronica destroys Adrian's diary). The world was furious at Hughes; they deserved clear answers, they insisted, and believed that the missing pages of the diaries would cast a crucial light onto the final state of mind of their beloved literary genius. But Plath and Hughes's children deserved protection, Hughes argued, and that need was paramount to history's need for clear answers - or, more cynically, to its simple curiosity to "know what happened." They deserved protection from the violence of their mother's final state of mind, Hughes argued. Is Tony being grossly insensitive by demanding to know "the truth" when a greater reality is at stake: the feelings of Veronica, her mother Susan, and Adrian Jr, who were far more affected by Adrian's life than he ever was?

Characters. What about Veronica (called “Mary” like the Madonna?), Adrian, Margaret and Sarah? (Sarah as in Old Testament Sarah who gave birth in her old age?) Do you agree with Tony’s assessment of them? This is a narrator who has edited his life so he can live with himself. What has he left out? Clearly his feelings about Veronica were more complex than he’s let on. What do you think their relationship was really like?
 Images. The novel opens with them. We can’t get wrists out of our minds: the watch worn facing inwards, Veronica wanking, Adrian’s suicide. And then semen sluicing down the drain, contrasting with the upstream tidal wave. The Thames and the bloody bathwater. What image or scene in the novel has stayed with you? Did Tony forget or did he fail to mention something that happened while they were watching the Severn Bore?

Style. Tony Webster is your classic unreliable narrator: his memory is faulty, his credibility wonky. (Julian Barnes has cited the unreliable narrator classic, The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford. Read it, it’s harrowing. So what IS a reliable narrator? Isn’t anything first-person dubious?)