The Sense of an Ending is narrated by a retired man named Tony Webster, who recalls how he and his clique met Adrian Finn at school and vowed to remain friends for life.
[10] For example, the critic Boyd Tonkin adds the additional interpretation that Barnes's "show-off" characters could be typical readers of Kermode's work.
The first part begins in the 1960s with four intellectually arrogant school friends, of whom two feature in the remainder of the story: Tony, the narrator, and Adrian, the most precociously intelligent of the four.
Tony replies to the letter, telling Adrian that in his opinion Veronica was damaged in some way and that he should talk to her mother about it.
Some months later he is told that Adrian has committed suicide, leaving a note addressed to the coroner saying that the free person has a philosophical duty to examine the nature of their life and may then choose to renounce it.
Veronica eventually sends Tony a single page of the diary, containing Adrian's musings on life as a series of cumulative wagers.
Nevertheless, he persists in attempting to retrieve the diary from Veronica, which leads to her asking him to meet at a location in North London, where she drives him to see a group of learning disabled men being taken for a walk by their careworker, one of whom she points out to him.
[17] Prosenotes gave it a "B" (76%) based on critic reviews with a consensus saying, "The author is a little heavy-handed with some of his ideas, and the protagonist can be frustrating, but those are minor issues when compared to the excellent writing and the deft way the book plays with the concept of memory".
"[22] Prodger added "Its brevity, however, in no way compromises its intensity – every word has its part to play; with great but invisible skill Barnes squeezes into it not just a sense of the infinite complexity of the human heart but the damage the wrong permutations can cause when combined.
"[22] The Guardian's Justine Jordan said "With its patterns and repetitions, scrutinising its own workings from every possible angle, the novella becomes a highly wrought meditation on ageing, memory and regret.
"[23] Boyd Tonkin from The Independent said The Sense of an Ending is "A slow burn, measured but suspenseful, this compact novel makes every slyly crafted sentence count.
"[24] Anita Brookner, writing for The Daily Telegraph, said the novel is not a thriller, but a tragedy, which resembles Henry James's The Turn of the Screw.
"[25] Entertainment Weekly's Stephen Lee gave The Sense of an Ending a B+ and said "Barnes's latest—a meditation on memory and aging—occasionally feels more like a series of wise, underline-worthy insights than a novel.
"[26] Robert McCrum writing for The Observer thought the novel would win the Man Booker Prize because it is "a work of art, in a minor key.
"[28] Geordie Williamson from The Australian said the novel is a pleasure to read and explained there is "a fierce and unforgiving lucidity about The Sense of an Ending, a mature reckoning with ageing that makes its competitors seem petulant and shrill.
[33] Head judge Stella Rimington described the novel as "exquisitely written, subtly plotted and reveals new depths with each reading.
It was directed by Ritesh Batra from a screenplay adaptation by Nick Payne with a cast including Michelle Dockery, Emily Mortimer, Jim Broadbent, Charlotte Rampling, and Harriet Walter.