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Post by well on Jun 8, 2013 11:06:45 GMT -5
This story is so strange that they do not be surprised if he had a counterpart in reality.
Blood money - first associations connected with Adrian, I haven't other.
Gesture Mrs. Ford is not clear even for Tony, so all the more for us. Maybe comes from the Author's private life? Or maybe the point is that even person close to us, is a mystery to us, will be fully known never ?
In the theater is said about a gun, which will not shoot - it's a person or situation that arises, but there is no continuation and no effect on the action. In life there are a lot of such situations, which create hope but next accidents do not confirm its
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Post by dawnoshiro on Jun 9, 2013 1:56:43 GMT -5
I still find it fascinating that people can interpret the exact same lines in so many different ways.  That said, I'm going to totally disagree with rdkaplan's interpretation of Mrs. Ford's hand gesture. The early description of the events at the Ford household are told to us "as Tony perceived them". Thus, he says Veronica wanted to let him sleep in...but how does he know this? Presumably Mrs. Ford told him this, and Tony believes her. It is possible Mrs. Ford sends her family away to give herself some alone time with Tony, then tells him Veronica wanted to let him sleep in. There are a lot of hints in the passage that Mrs. Ford was probably trying to seduce Tony (as she does later with Adrian) but that Tony "doesn't get it". When she waves goodbye, it's clear this isn't a normal wave, and that it is not done with a raised palm, but strangely, "at waist level". Personally, I think she was making a masturbation gesture to tell Tony that she knew (or heard) him jacking off in the middle of the night. But again, Tony is too innocent to read this correctly and just thinks to himself that she had a weird way of saying goodbye. It's hard for me as a reader to trust anything Mrs. Ford says at face value. She tells Tony that "Adrian was happy" but he was apparently so happy that he committed suicide... We'll never know how Adrian really felt about her since the diary was destroyed (or at least SAID to be destroyed). |
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Post by very well on Jun 9, 2013 7:46:41 GMT -5
Sure, we live in a post-Freudian era. But still mainly we look into the eyes, right?
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Julian Barnes quotation
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Post by Julian Barnes quotation on Jun 10, 2013 12:46:14 GMT -5
Books say: She did this because. Life says: She did this. Books are where things are explained to you; life is where things aren’t. I’m not surprised some people prefer books. — JULIAN BARNES
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In Search of Lost Time
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Post by In Search of Lost Time on Jul 1, 2013 13:00:12 GMT -5
As a French reader of Julian Barnes's Sense of an Ending (in English), I am very touched to read the reference to Léo Ferré's song: "avec le temps va tout s'en va" which summurizes this magnificent novel so well! All I have read on this forum is very interesting since it shows how the author has managed to put us in a state of confusion/unrest. What a conjurer! It might be interesting to know that the French title is: Une fille, qui danse- because to me and to my friend who read the book in French it seems to be central in the understanding of the plot. Indeed we think that Tony doesn't get it except at this crucial moment and actually spoils everything when he meets Veronica again. "quest of lost time" ! Leo Ferre' song is great, especially in his own execution. The title of the French edition results from untranslatability of the original title and of play on words associated with him (J.B. said it in interwiev for French journal). I don't think the Veronica dance was decisive moment. It is very accurate observation of completely engrossed in the dance of the teenager (a dance has something primaeval, freeing) - in that moment of the completely autonomous person. As for intention of the author, I think that SOAE is supposed to be like the life, not like books, in which everything is logical and explainable. It is one from basic imponderables of human life, this theme appears in last fragments of the book - this anxiety is regarding everyone from us: why (whether) our life is written down into some pattern, and we are only less or more conscious performers? The suggestion of the author directed at the reader is clear: it is a river flowing against the current - one isn't allowed to undergo the course of events passively. youtu.be/BcOyojBU3hsThis is good music for the evening |
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Post by dawnoshiro on Jul 1, 2013 15:54:42 GMT -5
I suppose it just depends how you prefer to read the novel. I think "The Sense of An Ending" is meant to be like a book, not like life.
If it were like life, Tony would not be able to "get it" at the end. The last three paragraphs on the last two pages (162-163) wouldn't exist. Veronica would have never responded to Tony's inquiries in real life, so the whole second half of the novel wouldn't have happened. He gets closure to his quest for understanding, and he gets actual answers--things most people don't get in life.
The moment Veronica dances seems incredibly important, given that Tony mentions it in the end. He also says she dances "for once in her life". Veronica is not a girl who normally dances. She dances for Tony because she likes him. She does all kinds of things she wouldn't normally do because of her feelings for him. He only "gets" this at the end.
I think there are some writers who put things into novels to be cryptic, or put in things that have no larger meanings. But I don't think Julian Barnes is that kind of writer. He is very deliberate and the placement of every word and image is exquisite in its structure and planning. There is a deliberate reference to "Metroland" in this novel, which doesn't feel like an accident. (In fact, even the name Tony echoes a character name from "Metroland", and the entire novel is like a subtle bookend to the issues raised in that novel). The fact that Julian Barnes slyly inserted his own name into the book shows he is a master at building in layers of meaning.
But again, it all comes down to how you decide to read it, and what you wish to take from it. It is a generous, beautiful novel in that respect.
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Post by press reader on Jul 28, 2013 2:18:40 GMT -5
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Post by sallinger on Sept 29, 2013 18:28:56 GMT -5
I just read 'Levels of Life' (in Dutch 'Hoogteverschillen') and now I am reading Sense of an Ending (Dutch title 'Alsof het voorbij is'). It is - simply said - "savoureux" (in French) to read these books, with a sort of fragility in the writing and an intelligent way of twisting the structure of thought to another level. These books are written as if it was the most normal way of saying these things, but there is so much intelligence and wisdom behind teh words... Thank you, Mr. Barnes, thank you very much.
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Post by eilgren on Oct 1, 2013 15:29:55 GMT -5
I can't believe that nobody here seems to be angry with Julian Barnes for writing a masterpiece then turning it into an ordinary detective novel in the last few pages!!! I was enthralled all the way through but threw the book across the room at the end. I can only suggest that the author's personal life has something to do with this cruel trick on his readers.
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Post by jeffocks on Nov 18, 2013 12:03:57 GMT -5
I was enthralled all the way through but threw the book across the room at the end. I can only suggest that the author's personal life has something to do with this cruel trick on his readers.  Yes I felt both that it was perfectly complete in one way, but also that there could have been another few chapters to satisfy the questions dangling at the end. |
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I am I anyone give me life
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Post by I am I anyone give me life on Jan 1, 2014 15:00:46 GMT -5
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Post by terefere on Jan 18, 2014 5:25:48 GMT -5
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Post by terefere on Jan 30, 2014 16:57:04 GMT -5
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Álvaro Fierro Clavero
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Post by Álvaro Fierro Clavero on Mar 18, 2014 6:00:41 GMT -5
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Post by florence on Mar 19, 2014 7:42:44 GMT -5
As a Canadian reader, I really loved the book...Besides all the confusion that everyone has written about, I loved that the novel was set in Chislehurst.. From 1947 to 1950 I lived in Chislehurst with my Aunt Uncle and their children... I am a child survivor of the Holocaust and after World War 2, I was found in Poland and sent to England ...My memories of Chislehurst are so clear - the Pond with the Ducks and Swans and the little red schoolhouse that I went to in order to learn to read at the age of 6.
I was wondering if the author had also lived in Chislehurst....
Thank you for a wonderful novel ...
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Yes I felt both that it was perfectly complete in one way, but also that there could have been another few chapters to satisfy the questions dangling at the end.