Skip to main content

Book Review

‘The Sense of an Ending’ by Julian Barnes, recent Man Booker Prize Winner 2011.


An evenly balanced social critique of modern Britain dated to the turn of the millennium. The story is interesting and narrated by the protagonist as a kind of memoir, it is reminiscent of teenage frolics come back to haunt. There is no mention of church-going or of rotisserie chicken which are poignant to the sartorial nature of the piece; it is set comfortably in the middle-class Britain known to Bristol University graduates, the main character is depraved. The fact that a 2:1 degree class is so pertinent to the story is a clear indicator the author has used his poetic licence judiciously. What this book says to me that if one of the characters was black, it would have been mentioned explicitly in the text but no one says anything about non-English mixed race people as it is really obvious they are white. In all a challenging rather than comfortable evening’s worth of reading that leaves a feeling which Paracetamol can’t cure, it’s a bit like the druggie side-effect of a strong dose of Paracetamol.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Notes from Energy & Utility Forum 2017

1. Robert Symons, CEO of Western Power Distribution said: “Energy demand could rise by 100% by 2030. Smart grids will be needed to manage electric vehicle charging so that the usage does not exceed the supply capacity at any time during the day.” 2. Spoke to Harry Vickers, Business Development Manager of Camborne Energy Storage, Camborne Capital at the Energy and Utility Forum in London on October 23rd 2017. He told me his company is working with Elon Musk to bring Tesla battery grid storage solutions to the UK. 3. Spoke to Sally Barrett-Williams, Chairman of Energy and Utility Forum on October 23rd, who said subsidies for solar projects had ended and her company’s focus has shifted to energy storage schemes. 4. Spoke to Simon Dowland, PhD, at 13:00 on Sunday 29th October, Simon is now working up in Cambridge at the Cavendish Physics Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, he is working in industry for the company Eight19 Ltd a spin off from a research project to bring ne...
Post a Comment
Read more

We are mighty full of ourselves now, aren't we?

Vice-President Communications, Anthony Gaskell OE. Formula 1 needs more money in it to go back to how it was before. They need to get more serious. This is reminiscent of the good old days, the jet-set life and clean country living, where furniture and furnishings were made to the highest possible standard and there was no compromise on quality. Bad eye sight is like bad posture, it can be corrected without drugs or mechanical support. Eye-sight is a skill just as much as it is a transient attribute, many Opticians and others would say that eye-sight degrades with age and I would call them eccentric as typically one can expect that eye-sight would improve with age unless there was a problem. Ageing is a disease. A white British man with a PIO card as a businessman in Dubai , disappointed at a meeting. It is believed that Indians are descended from white-skinned peoples and that the truest Indians still have the whitest...
Post a Comment
Read more

Astronomers Conference Bath

William Herschel Society and the Society for the History of Astronomy Conference at BRLSI, 02 nd April 2016 1       John Chuter on Somerset Astronomers – British Astronomical Association Names in development of astronomy in Somerset: Roger Bacon 12th-13th century John Pond 18th century Observatory at Westbury sub Mendip John George Hickley 1810-1889 Rector of Walton church, rectory now owned by Millfield School. Sent letter of invitation to astronomical scientific society to local Conservative MP. Rev Phillips 1868-1942 Had his own observatory on Headley and made some drawings of Jupiter. Reginald Waterfield Locally educated, early WHS member Harold Ridley Bequeathed £59,000 to BAA for fund in his name. From treasure trove of items: Record of total eclipse in Sweden in 1851. Sir John Hippisley 1804-1898 Another wealthy astronomer with an observatory at Stoneaston Park, whose image is similar to that of Sir John Naismith. ...
Post a Comment
Read more