Log #1

Book: The Sense of an Ending

Author: Julian Barnes

Page: finished (150 pages)

        Julian Barnes divided this book only into two chapters. For the first chapter, Tony Webster, one of the main roles in this book, in his sixties recalled the memory and started to describe the friendship with three other classmates at school, especially Adrian Finn with whom most of his later story had a lot to do. In addition to friendship in school, this chapter was also about relationship with women as well as the contradiction in Tony Webster’s deep mind in his trip of life. For the second part, Tony Webster talked about his thoughts along with feeling when looking back his early life. Furthermore, Tony Webster shared his philosophy toward life after experiencing terrible conditions. For example, Adrian Finn and Tony Webster’s ex-girlfriend fell in love. However, with no specific reason (which couldn’t be figured out then and there), Adrian Finn committed suicide. To sum up, it’s a book worth reading for not only Tony Webster’s tortuous life but also the meaningful philosophy mentioned by him.

        In this book were many sentences which made people introspect themselves. “We all suffer damage, but the way we react to it is much more important.” When I saw this sentence, I couldn’t help yelling “yes” in my mind! As a person who always looks negatively, it is the sentence that reminds me I should not be affected by the damage and be in a bad mood. Instead, I need to find ways to solve the difficulty and see the wonderful in my life. “Learn not in the sense of academic study, but in the practical understanding of life.” I myself learn only for getting better grades rather than apply what I learn to daily life. However, actually, we are learning every moment. We learn through understanding ourselves including behavior and mind, and we can also learn through other people’s interaction. Each person or circumstance we have in life may be our tutor. It depends on how we think toward them. Here are some other thought-provoking sentences. For instance, “If you want to make people pay attention to what you’re saying, you don’t raise your voice but lower it.” “When we are young, we invent different futures for ourselves; when we are old, we invent different pasts for others.”

        I was attracted by the name of the book “The Sense of an Ending.” I was curious about what was going to be ended and how the author could recognize it. I liked the way the author elaborated the story and gave insightful feedback in the end. After reading this book, I gradually knew how to deal with friendship, love, and of course life. Besides, I will definitely not want to regret what I have done when I am old. Therefore, I need to cherish every chance as well as moment and not to do something wrong. I still remember one day when I was on high school bus, I made fun of my good friend, and she got angry. Although I kept begging for her forgiveness on that day, she still didn’t give me any response. After almost one year, on the rainy day, she shared her umbrella with me, saying that actually she had forgiven me on that day. However, she just didn’t know how to start a conversation with me since she thought she was so childish to get upset for the careless joke. I wondered if she did not give me a hand on that rainy day, maybe our friendship would come to an end. That would absolutely be a great pity to me. As a consequence, I made up my mind not to do the similar behavior again in my life, or I would regret and hate myself for the rest of my life.