Vom Ende einer Geschichte (Ungekürzte Fassung)

Geschrieben von Julian Barnes

Erzählt von Manfred Zapatka

Als Finn Adrian in die Klasse von Tony Webster kommt, schließen die beiden Jungen schnell Freundschaft. Sex und Bücher sind die Hauptthemen, mit denen sie sich befassen, und Tony hat das Gefühl, dass Adrian in allem etwas klüger ist als er. Auch später, nach der Schulzeit, bleiben die beiden in Kontakt. Bis die Freundschaft ein jähes Ende findet.
Vierzig Jahre später, Tony hat eine Ehe, eine gütliche Trennung und eine Berufskarriere hinter sich, ist er mit sich im Reinen. Doch der Brief eines Anwalts erweckt plötzlich Zweifel an den vermeintlich sicheren Tatsachen der eigenen Biographie. Je mehr Tony erfährt, desto unsicherer scheint das Erlebte und desto unabsehbarer die Konsequenzen für seine Zukunft.

• Sprache: Deutsch
• Herausgeber: Argon Verlag
• Erscheinungsdatum: 21. Jan. 2013
• ISBN: 9783839811641

Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes (Leicester, 1946) se educó en Londres y Oxford. Está considerado como una de las mayores revelaciones de la narrativa inglesa de las últimas décadas. Entre muchos otros galardones, ha recibio el premio E.M. Forster de la American Academy of Arts and Letters, el William Shakespeare de la Fundación FvS de Hamburgo y es Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Rezensionen für Vom Ende einer Geschichte (Ungekürzte Fassung)

[sweetiegherkin · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

After becoming the recipient of a mysterious willed gift, Tony Webster uses his retirement days to reflect on his life thus far, specifically focusing on his school chum Adrian and his college sweetheart Veronica.This slim novel reads quickly (although I wouldn't say it's a book that qualifies as "can't put it down") and seems straightforward enough as Tony muses over the nature of memory and nostalgia. But as key parts of the past are revealed to Tony with a new light casting over all he's recalled, the book becomes so much more. The reader sees how everything -- even seemingly trivial conversations -- ties together and comes full circle. At that point, you realize the mastery of Barnes's writing and why this book has received such acclaim. While the language is simple, it is packed with meaning and symbolism.I can imagine this book would make a great re-read once the reader knows the end and can pick up on all the loose threads that point to and lead up to that moment. It also made for an excellent book club choice as we had plenty of fodder for discussion and interpretation.

[juva_3 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

Beautifully written. Haunting. Sad. It is a story about the lies we tell to and about ourselves. It is a story about friendship and how little we end up knowing the people closest to us.

[evaberry · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

Highly astute observations of how memory works and how our attitudes towards life and other people can, in hindsight, hinge on small events.Somehow, I found the ending a slight let-down. Ultimately, Tony didn't have the responsibility for the events that the build-up had led us to believe.

[bsiemens_2 · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

When you go about stuffing a full-length novel into one hundred pages, you must leave certain things to the reader's imagination. And you must set the words in place as to not leave the reader confused at the climax. Julian Barnes does precisely this with such panache.

[kalliegrace · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

I'm not sure what to do with this one. It's been on my shelf for years, and having finally gotten round to it, I don't know what made me pick it up. The whole story hinges on one person withholding a piece of information from another for....what reason? I guess the theme of memories being fickle and only falling into place in retrospect with information from more parties was worth exploring. And the writing is fantastic. I think I just need fewer books of white men being clueless.

[dandiercks · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

This brief book, a novella, is really a gem in my opinion. Often when I read a novel, I think what a terrific book it was but that it was much too long. The Sense of an Ending is the well written novel that the novelist knew when to stop. The ending is reasonably cryptic with the mystery fairly easily figured out. That said, the ending probably makes the novel well worth a second read with that information in mind. Winner of the Man Booker award The Sense of an Endling would be a terrific book club read. As a former high school English teacher, I can also see it being taught in school, although probably more appropriately in college than in high school.

[rosalita_1 · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

I've often wondered if my feelings about books I review are changed by the act of reviewing them. I finished this book a week or so ago, and it's taken me a while to get around to writing the review because, well, I'm not quite sure what I think of it. It is, without question, beautifully written, with passages like this one:But time … how time first grounds us and then confounds us. We thought we were being mature when we were only being safe. We imagined we were being responsible but were only being cowardly. What we called realism turned out to be a way of avoiding things rather than facing them. Time … give us enough time and our best-supported decisions will seem wobbly, our certainties whimsical.At its heart, The Sense of an Ending seems to be all about time, and especially memory, and how the former can distort the latter without our even being quite aware of it. The character Tony narrates the entire novel putting himself at the center of the story, as we all do when we are the one doing the telling. It is only in the closing pages that Barnes tilts the story on its side, and we along with Tony see that the real story is not his to tell, after all.As I've thought through the book while writing this review, I've come to realize I actually liked it quite a lot. Which brings me back to the question: If I had simply rated this book straight after reading it, would it still have gotten 4½ stars? I think perhaps not. It is deceptively slender in pages, which is not to be confused with being slight in stature. Barnes does his readers the favor of not spelling out every little detail, and there are still things that I'm not sure about (why did Veronica's mum leave Tony that £500?) It may not wrap everything up neatly in a little bow, but The Sense of an Ending is a book that rewards careful reading and contemplation.

[castlelass · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

This is a story of a retired man looking back on his youth and trying to make sense of his past. It is divided into two parts. In Part One, set in London in the 1960’s, narrator Tony Webster recounts his time in school with his group of four intellectual friends. They take a somewhat arrogant approach to life, history, and literature, while at the same time want to appear diffident and “cool” to their peers. At one key point, they analyze a school mate’s suicide, to puzzle out what may have caused it, while casually discussing the ramifications in a rather callous way. The narrative proceeds to describe their college days and relationships, with a focus on two of the four, Tony and Adrian. Part Two takes place about forty years later. Tony summarizes his life up to that point, and the past comes calling. He receives a mysterious bequest, which leads him to unravel a series of unsavory events. He discovers that what he believes to be true about his past is not quite what actually happened, that he has forgotten some rather important facts. From the distance of age, his younger self seems like another person and his past actions disturb him deeply. He feels a need to solve the mystery and atone for his behavior.

The author explores the interaction between time and memory, mortality, self-perception, and the myriad of ways we can deceive ourselves to lessen guilt and remorse. The writing is beautiful, sophisticated, and philosophical. It packs a substantial amount of emotional depth into a rather slim novel and is compelling enough to read in a single sitting. Barnes cleverly inserts significant bits of information to keep the reader interested in finding out more, while not revealing everything until the end. In fact, the enjoyment of the novel will likely hinge on the reader’s response to the ending. It provides a great deal of “food for thought” in terms of evaluating the consequences of one’s actions and facing responsibility. There is lots to discuss and would be an excellent selection for a book club. While all loose ends are not tied up, it does provide The Sense of an Ending.

[suesbooks · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

This book seemed familiar, and I appreciated it much more the second time I read it. The author talks so much about how our memories are so important in fashioning our lives, and how we are so certain of our memories even many years after they've passed. The characters were very interesting and so many symbolized different philosophies. This time I was very surprised by the complicated ending.

[aront-2 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

Barnes is an amazing crafts person and the writing here is brilliant, the story exceedingly well crafted. Everything about the story is perfectly executed, including the “surprise” ending. However, the genre—the inner life of an ordinary modern person—is not my favorite (I read it as a friend recommendation). This book reinforces why: usually at the end, the character and you end up in the same place, with no useful insights to take away about that ordinary inner life. In a short story it can work great and have real emotional impact. As a novella or novel-meh.Bottom line: Only read it if you are already a fan of the genre.

[romonko · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

This book won the Man Booker Prize of 2011. It won for a very good reason. The book is a small masterpiece. In so few words Julian Barnes tells us about what it means to live a life. Tony Webster is the narrator of this book, and also the narrator of his life story. I'll say up front that he is an unreliable narrator, and this book was written long before this type of story telling became so common. This is the way a master handles this form of storytelling. The story is told in two time frames. The first is in the 1960's when Tony was growing up, going to school through to university. The second is 40 years later when he is in his sixties. As Tony looks back on his life he remembers only the things that he has trained his brain to remember until something happens that forces him to pry open some buried memories that change the way he sees himself. He realizes as he looks back that though he can't change his history, he can come to terms with it while examining it from his 60 plus years. So much is touched on in this book. Friendship, family, love, relationships, marriage, children and death all are a part of this book--so much is said and in so few, well-crafted words. The ending is one that will surprise you and when you close the book you will realize what Tony has been trying to say throughout. I notice that many reviewers do not care for the ending and I understand why. It's visceral and real and made me examine my own thoughts about life and decisions that I've made. But, even so, from my perspective I don't think the ending could have been more perfect. The ending answered all Tony's questions about his life, and it answered mine as to what Julian Barnes was trying to say in this little masterpiece. This is a book to read and read again. Highly recommend.

[charon07 · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

Much though I dislike fiction with ambiguous, unresolved endings, in this case the open-endedness serves a purpose, which is to illustrate the book's principal theme about the unreliability of memory and the uncertainty of history. I do like fiction that forces you to reexamine what's gone before, and this novel has that in spades. Maybe it's my age, however, but I thought the narrator's self-examination throughout the book, up until the ending, was far more satisfying than the ending. I suspect, however, that like Tony I still "just don't get it."

[reader1009-863136 · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

adult fiction; human drama/family secrets. Short and intriguing enough to easily read in a few sittings.

[kittycunningh-815148 · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

I found the ending a little garbled and there were still some unanswered questions, but I enjoyed the story and the telling of it nonetheless.

This is NOT a happy book. (I don't require happy endings.)

[paulmorriss · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

I'm not sure this deserves to be a classic, but very evocative, especially if you watch Downton Abbey.

[teresa1966-460496 · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

I was enjoying it until that ending.

[stephkaye-923485 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

Part of my problem with Julian Barnes' The Sense of an Ending was the hype. EVERONE was talking about this book, so I read it with an attitude of "Well, what's everyone so crazy about? This better be good." And it was good, but not that good.

The other problem I had with this book is that it's a mystery, and I hate mysteries. Either I figure it out quickly, so I feel cheated, or I don't feel I could have figured it out even if I tried...so I feel cheated. The latter is the case here, and I think I like that even worse. There is NO WAY we could have figured out what happened, and if you did, it was just a lucky guess.

So, it's an interesting, quick read, but frustrating in the end.

[carriewuj · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

This reminded me a bit of A Separate Peace by John Knowles. It is the same situation of a youthful action motivated by insecurity and jealousy that has far-reaching implications for all involved. Tony Webster had a group of 3 mates in prep school: Alex, Colin and newcomer Adrian Finn. He becomes the one they all want to please and impress. The entire group fancies themselves intellectuals and scholars, but Finn is the real deal and goes on to study philosophy at Cambridge. The group drifts a bit at different schools and locations, but keep in touch via letters (it was the 60s). Tony dates Veronica Ford his first real romance. She is a smart girl, who is just a step above his social class and he can't commit due to his own issues of inferiority. When she begins to date Adrian, he fires off a mean missive to the two of them and cuts off all contact. Tony is actually remembering and reflecting on all this from middle age when he gets an unexpected inheritance, gets back in touch with Veronica and learns the real story of what happened to Adrian after they lost touch. "If nostalgia means the powerful recollection of strong emotions -- and a regret that such feelings are not longer present in our lives -- then I plead guilty." "It strikes me that this may be one of the differences between youth and age: when we are young, we invent different futures for ourselves; when we are old, we invest different pasts for others." 88-89 Coming to terms with the past and his role in it becomes a hard reckoning for Tony, but knowledge and understanding also give him freedom and peace. Excellently crafted from beginning to end and back to the beginning again.

[ken5me5old5mate · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes Pretty much someone re-visiting their past which they believed to be like that, only to discover that it is like this. Painful at times and frustrating at others. A story for everyone that dares to go back.

I found it hard to put this down once I started it. It is so well written it makes you want to cry from sheer pleasure. A story of realisation, loss and self delusion, it's humanity will make you still.

Quietly Brilliant

[shannonrose4 · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

Loved this book. Amazing. A book you will want to re-read as soon as you finish it. The twist is unexpected, and makes you wonder about your own memories. This is a book where what really happened and what is remembered to have taken place collide.

[flydodofly · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

The main character looks back at the time of youth, when the world seemed to be full of possibilities. Over the course of years he chose not to seize the excitement, and opted, or settled, for whatever life brought along, which was nothing remarkable. In his 60s now, he is confronted with information that makes him question his younger self, and the way he looks at his life and his personality in general. Julian Barnes puts us side to side with the „hero“ of the novel, and let‘s watch as he slowly becomes uncertain of himself, and of the relationships to people he thought he used to know. During this process of deconstruction, more and more of his loneliness is revealed, and it stands for each and every one of us. There is so much to find in the novel, so many interesting views and ideas and although very still and simple, it is about things as large and important as they come: matters of life and death, literally.Quotes:P.x „...mental states can be inferred from actions. That‘s in history. [ ]whereas in private life, I think the converse is true: that you can infer past actions from current mental state.P.x: ...how we react to damage: Some admit the damage, and try to mitigate it, some spend their lives trying to help others who were damaged; and then there are those whose main concern is to avoid further damage to themselves, at whatever cost. And those are the ones who are ruthless, and the ones to be careful of.P.x: the more you learn, the less you fearP. 93: We thought we were being mature when we were only being safe. We imagined we were being reponsible but were only being cowardly. What we called realism turned out to be a way of avoiding things rather than facing them.P. 99: In my terms, I settled for the realities of life, and submitted to its necessities: if this, than that, and so the years passed. In Adrian‘s terms, I gave up on life, gave up on examining it, took it as it came.P. 103: So my emotions as they actually are don‘t concern her. She prefers to assume that I have certain feelings and operate according to that assumption.P. 105: Sometimes I think the purpose of life is to reconcile us to its eventual loss by wearing us down, by proving, however long ittakes, that life isn‘t all it‘s cracked up to be.

[mercef_9 · Bewertung: 2 von 5 Sternen]

As annoying as I hope this review will be.

[pdcread · Bewertung: 2 von 5 Sternen]

Tony first meets Adrian at school, and he joins their little clique, where they form a friendship that they pledge will last for the rest of their lives. After school, they start to form relationships, and find work and meet occasionally. Tony meets Veronica, and introduces her to his friends in London one day. He has a odd relationship with her, and a one night stand after they had split, and she ends up with Adrian. He sends them an angry letter, warning Adrian of something that her mother had said to him. At some point after, Adrian tragically commits suicide.

Fast forward to his twilight years; Tony has been married, had a daughter, and is now divorced, by on good terms with his ex. He receives a small sum of money and two documents from Veronica's mother in her will. He contacts her as she has one of the documents. And so begins a trawl through his past, attempts at reconciliation, and a desire to understand what happened and how Veronica's life turned out.

It is a short book, only 150 pages or so. The writing is tight, controlled and precise, and had a delightful brevity and intensity. However, I felt that the plot was not particularly strong. It has a mystery in the book, but is mainly about the perils of revisiting old flames when the parting was not on good terms. It is a shame because I was hoping for better things from this.

[jphamilton-1 · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

The bookstores that my late wife and I owned and operated for 22 years had three different names: Mansion Book Merchants, The Next Chapter, and Raven’s Tale. Each time we needed a name, Vicky and I would bat around her old favorite—Old Friends. It never stuck, because it always seemed better suited for used books. However, today I sat down and reread Julian Barnes fine book, The Sense of an Ending, because it has definitely become over the years one of my old friends. Julian Barnes is such a literary treasure, and this book has been always been such a pleasure to read. In these times of sheltering at home, this was a guaranteed virus-free old friend—one that I could hold, touch, and even fondle for over an hour of reading. Come on, admit it, between the tactile thrill of the paper and the binding, the smell of it all, the look and the sound of flipping those pages, and the ecstasy of great writing, many of us love to fondle our books. My copy is a British edition and the endpapers and the page edges are all black. Combining that look with the great cover makes it a beautiful example of a physical book. The book follows a young man named Tony through his horny, book-obsessed school years, early friends and loves, marriage and divorce. His most distinctive school friend was Adrian, who later took his own life. Adrian’s diary becomes central to Tony’s life through a series of events, and the story line displays Barnes writing to the fullest. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read this short novel since its publication in 2011, but every time I’m thankful that Vicky’s enthusiasm for Barnes rubbed off on me. Right now, another artist that she introduced me to, the musician/songwriter John Prine, is struggling for his life in a hospital with Covid-19. [I’ve written myself into an emotional corner that I can’t get out of, but I’ll just say that I’m sure to reread this book again someday.]

[piemouth · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

I was glad I read this all at once, on a plane. I was pleased with myself for figuring out the mystery at its heart - at least some of it - because usually I have trouble when things aren't spelled out. I found it really moving, the ideas about memory and selective memories and how things can look after time goes by. A lot of the Goodreads reviewers utterly detested the narrator. I thought he was a certain kind of rigid person we've all known, but found him fallible like most of us, not detestable. I actually was far more annoyed at the woman in the story even though I realize that puts me into the detestable category for some readers. She was so frustrating!However, in retrospect, some things that the narrator reveals made me question his truthfulness about the rest of his story, so I may re-read it soon. I also have trouble realizing a narrator is unreliable and probably have with this book.

[belgrade18 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

Excellent writing, but it's more like a short story than a novel. Some great turns of events, especially in the last thirty pages, however it's not very complex (despite some great thoughts by the protagonist). Highly recommended if you want a quick read of a Man Booker Award winner, but it won't change your life.

[gittel_7 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

Not sure if I would have recognized this as a great book, if I hadn't been told that it was. But for a story that breaks all the rules of story telling, this brief novel truly took my breath away. I found myself contemplating its ending for hours after I'd finished it. The author plays an interesting game of hide and seek, placing clues and symbols tucked away throughout the book, daring the reader to find them all.

[formerenglishteacher · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

This brief book, a novella, is really a gem in my opinion. Often when I read a novel, I think what a terrific book it was but that it was much too long. The Sense of an Ending is the well written novel that the novelist knew when to stop. The ending is reasonably cryptic with the mystery fairly easily figured out. That said, the ending probably makes the novel well worth a second read with that information in mind. Winner of the Man Booker award The Sense of an Endling would be a terrific book club read. As a former high school English teacher, I can also see it being taught in school, although probably more appropriately in college than in high school.

[alphawoman_1 · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

Young adult suicide! I reveled in this type of book as a youth (teenager) and the moment (page 51) suicide was introduced something long ago and far away fired up.I liked this quite a bit. My own youth and youthful follies were called in for a through roughing up. Maybe because I am also in my 60's I grasp everything he is saying. Rewriting your story, your history so its more acceptable. But history is written only by those who remember. The ending, though I suspected something connected to the will and diary had to do with an illicit relationship. Tony saw the possibilities of a unique creature hidden behind a spatula and a frying pan.The ending was very sad and revealing of the relationship between mother and daughter. This book, consequently, could only he written by a man. Relationship between mother and daughter much deeper than a weekend encounter.Damn, this book really causes one to think. Perhaps the mother did not like her family at all.

[jonimfisher · Bewertung: 2 von 5 Sternen]

I don't get it. Not my kind of story at all. While I enjoyed the way the author described the musings of Tony, I came away from the story sad that I had lost those hours of my life reading about his.