Well, I didn’t get it either

The Sense of an Ending
by Julian Barnes

At 176 pages, The Sense of an Ending, Julian Barnes Man Booker-nominated latest is barely even a novella. Yet, there’s something to be said for an author willing to tell a story in the time that is needed to tell it, and not feeling compelled to pad the narrative. Mr. Barnes has included exactly what’s needed within these pages and not a word more.

His tale is told in two parts, by everyman narrator Tony Webster. The first part, comprising approximately a third of the book, reads like a coming-of-age story. It recounts the formative relationships of Tony’s early life, both male and female, from his school days through early adulthood. We meet his closest friends, witness his earliest romances, and experience his first losses. This first section was good, but not great on its own.

The novella flowered in its second, longer part, set 40 years later. Now Tony is in his early 60’s, amicably divorced, and a generally content man. One day, he receives notification of an unexpected and frankly bewildering bequest—which is then even more bewilderingly withheld. These contemporary happenings open windows to events of the past and Mr. Barnes held me rapt with the tale.

Despite the compelling plotline, go into this novella expecting it to be character-driven rather than plot-driven. In the end, the inheritance is a MacGuffin, and not really that important after all. It’s the relationships of the characters that really tell this tale, and they are beautifully rendered.

Throughout the latter part of the story, Tony is told repeatedly (and without explanation, of course), “You just don’t understand!” Well, he thought he did, and I thought he did. But it isn’t until the very final lines of the novella that the full truth is made clear. The Sense of an Ending is brief, and it is masterful, and if it wins the Man Booker Prize in a few minutes, it will be entirely deserving.

UPDATE:  He won!

Boy + Tiger + Sea voyage = Booker nomination?

Jamrach's Menagerie
by Carol Birch

Set in the unforgiving world of 19th century England, Jamrach’s Menagerie is the story of Jaffy Brown, who claims to have been reborn at the age of eight. On that day, he’s out and about when everyone around him starts running and pressing themselves up against walls. Looking up, he sees a large tiger padding right towards him. Jaffy walks up and pats its fur—at which point the tiger takes the boy in its mouth and starts carrying him off, little bare toes dragging over the cobbles. Jaffy doesn’t struggle or fuss.

Soon enough, the boy is saved by the eponymous Jamrach, the dealer in wild and exotic animals from whom the tiger had escaped. Jamrach decides that Jaffy is “good with animals,” and fearless to boot. The eight year old is offered a job, and he spends his formative years working with the animals alongside a frenemy, one year older. As teenagers, the two boys decide to ship off to sea aboard a whaling ship with a secondary mission. They are to capture an unknown beast—a dragon—for one of Jamrach’s wealthy clients. We haven’t entered the realm of fantasy; this reader knows that what they are after is a Komodo dragon, even if the characters themselves don’t.

While this is Ms. Birch’s ninth novel, it’s her first novel-length work published in the U.S. It has also been short-listed for the Man Booker Prize this year, and I can certainly see why. Rarely have I seen more evocative prose. She has vividly captured the sights and sounds and ghastly smells of this harsh era. She has also captured the wonder of this more innocent age. Beauty and wonder are a joy to read when so evocatively rendered, but when the tale devolves into terror, madness, and a struggle to survive—as it does—the power of her prose is painful. It’s amazing how affecting mere words can be!

Jaffy Brown is a character who leads an extraordinary life, and Carol Birch takes her readers on an adventure well worth traveling!