The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

I imagine myself being approached in a dark alley by people holding objects. As I get closer to them I ask "What's that?" They hold up the books I have read lately and say "These? These are books." I stare at them and smile just a little. "Those aren't books..." and I pull The Sense of an Ending from my back pocket I sneer - "This is a book!"

Every word, every word, every word makes sense and sings a little tune. This is a wonderful book. I love it. Julian Barnes has written some delightful books but this one is a masterpiece. It's only 150 pages so easily read in one sitting but one needs to take it slow to appreciate every nuance of his writing.

I can't stand it - I have to quote.

"I remember, in no particular order:
- a shiny inner wrist;
- steam rising from a wet sink as a hot frying pan is laughingly tossed into it;
- gouts of sperm circling a plughole, before being sluiced down the full length of a tall house;
- a river rushing nonsensically upstream, its wave and wash lit by half a dozen chasing torchbeams;
- another river, broad and grey, the direction of its flow diguised by a stiff wind exciting the surface;
- bathwater long gone cold behind a locked door.
This last isn't something I actually saw, but what you end up remembering isn't alwasy the same as what you have witnessed."

These are the first lines of this wonderful story. It's about a life, a life of Tony and all the people he knew in his past and present. I said a couple of books back, that there are books in which the plot doesn't matter - it is the words that matter, the elegance of the writing, the honesty of the construction - This is one of those. But, we get to have an engaging story as well. Often I say I wanted more from a short book but this was exactly the right length for this story. Nothing was extraneous, nothing was left out.

The Sense of an Ending is about Tony but its also about memory, recollection and how we treat those memories in our lives. There is poignancy and humour. At one point early in the book, Tony talks about his sexual exploits, or lack of them, in his youth - that there was still a reluctance to 'go all the way' amongst the girls who were experts in 'feelings'. "You may say, But wasn't this the Sixties? Yes, but only for some people, only in certain parts of the country."

Barnes is brilliant and eloquent. I guess you can tell that I loved this book. I want to sleep with it under my pillow for a few more nights even though it is finished. Reading a book like this makes me feel more enlightened and smarter. I guess that is as good an endorsement as any I could give.