The events in the novel The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes move back and forth in time through the memory of the protagonist Tony Webster. It is set in a modern context and explores the themes of friendship, love, courtship, marriage and family. Tony’s memory narrative is subjective and therefore problemetises the authority and reliability of his perspective.

As the novel progresses, it becomes evident to the reader that the author is experimenting with narrative form and technique through the use of memory, the shifts in time and space and the juxtaposition of the past with the present.

The novel focuses on the tragic triangular relationship between Tony, Veronica and Adrian. Tony and Veronica meet as undergraduates at Bristol University but their relationship fails. Then Veronica has a relationship with Adrian, who is Tony’s friend from high school. Veronica and Adrian were compatible but Veronica’s mother Mrs. Ford breaks the relationship. An unsettling aspect of the novel is its exploration of the dysfunctional relationship between Veronica and her mother. Mrs. Ford reveals an unnatural jealousy towards her daughter Veronica and has an adulterous relationship with Veronica’s boyfriend Adrian, and to make matters worse, has a mentally retarded child by him. Adrian’s philosophical understanding of life displays a predisposition for suicide, which is exploited by Mrs. Ford.

Tony’s memory of his relationship with Veronica and his description of her as an enigma and a mystery woman reveals his inability to understand her, which is why their relationship fails. Veronica’s attraction to Adrian was perhaps the result of his ability to understand her as he was more intelligent than Tony. Tony’s memory of his failed marriage to Margaret reflects Barnes’s concerns with the complexity of modern life and inter-personal relationships.

The Sense of an Ending is a mini-narrative that examines the way in which memory and time interact. It is poignantly expressed by Barnes in the following lines: “… there is objective time, but also subjective time, the kind you wear on the inside of your wrist, next to where the pulse lies. And this personal time, is measured in your relationship to memory ...” which also illuminates his thematic concerns and narrative technique.