The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

I didn't like any of the characters in Sense of an Ending. The narrator, Tony, admits that his life is average--and yet, he devotes a whole book to it. His one-time love, Veronica, is just infuriating. (She frequently says to Tony, "You just don't get it!" But never explains "it" to him.) And I couldn't relate at all to the cerebral Adrian. The book starts in the 1960s, when Tony and his pals at school become friends with newcomer Adrian. Tony is dating Veronica, though they don't seem ideally suited to each other. When she meets Adrian, she is immediately attracted. The second half of the book is Tony looking back at his life after Adrian's death. Tony has been bequeathed Adrian's diary but Veronica has it and won't give it to him. They do a sort of dance as he tries to get the diary back--and figure out what V & A have been up to in the intervening years. At the end, a big secret is uncovered (which is truthfully kind of bizarre, though it makes you feel more sympathy for Veronica). A snarky letter that Tony had written to Adrian years earlier resurfaces--over which Tony (inexplicably) feels extreme guilt in his later years. And nothing much is really resolved. This book might generate a good discussion at a book group. (Why is Veronica the way she is? What was up with Veronica's mother? Why does Tony feel so guilty about the letter he sent? (He had a right to be angry when he wrote it.) Why did Tony seem to have no real emotional relationships with anyone in his life? Why did his ex-wife want to stay friends with him but not stay married to him?) And yet, I can't really recommend Sense of an Ending. I'm a fast reader and it took me a long time to finish this 163-page book.