Author : Julian Barnes
What is it about : A haunting story based along the theme of "our memory is only half the story" and "what we remember is not what we witnessed". Our man Tony Webster received a letter from the mother of his ex-girlfriend from 40 years ago, leaving him from her Will, some money and a diary. A diary from his very philosophical and intelligent friend Adrian Finn who committed suicide all those years ago. The story then unfolded into an exploration of Tony's past and along the way he managed to put together a jigsaw puzzle of a chain of events quite different from what he remembered. At the end, a puzzle solved, with much regret, remorse and despair.
Some thoughts after having read the book : I would normally take my time and enjoy a slow burn of a read for most books, but I made a rare exception for this book; because this book was really as some critics would put it as "un-put-downable", "riveting" and "a real chase to the end". At the same time, the book provided plenty of food for thoughts regarding our very un-reliable memory, our very fallibility for inadvertently making up, embellishing and adjust the existing and missing bits of the stories (memory) in our lives; and on a wider scale, examining the very true nature of History itself - glorifying records written for victors or self-delusion on the losers' part and indeed the book examined whether History was merely, the product of "imperfection of memory meeting the inadequacy of documentation".
Would I recommend this book to you : Without question a book of quality for suspense, philosophy, examination of human nature, a who-dun-it and truly deserving the Man Booker Prize. The plot, construct and delivery were superb and presented with subtlety, sure-footedness and left the readers mesmerised with a sense of lost for our man Tony and a chance to reflect on our own very un-reliable memory. A Must Read !
