Booker Prize Winner THE SENSE OF AN ENDING - have you read it?

[TillyBookClub]

I am a longtime Julian Barnes fan, but haven't yet read the newly annointed Booker-winning novel.

Worthy of the prize or not his best... Your thoughts, please?

Just finished this and have the same questions as others here. Tony recognises the child as Adrian's so I think we have to assume it is his and nothing more happened between Tony and Mrs Ford. I have no idea re the money other than was it designed to catch Tony's attention so he would pursue the matter of the diary? One thing I expected to be resurrected was the 'its practically rape' line of Veronica's. Which has lead me to wonder was Mrs Ford raped by Adrian? And she wanted this discovered following her death. But I think not really. Very good book though and so short!

I was and remain troubled by the £500. I always thought blood money was paid by the transgressor to the victim as a way of publicly acknowledging guilt, thereby providing compensation and also averting the danger of vendetta-type revenge attacks. I believe it was part of the old Norse legal code, blood money being set by an 'judge'. How does fit in with the story? No idea. Can someone ring Mr Barnes up and just ask him, it is starting to really annoy me :)

I am so at my crap memory - I clicked on this thread, read a few posts and got excited because I thought someone had exactly the same questions as me.....and then I realised I was reading my posts from January.

Ooo I just bought this today and plan to read it in the next week, so I won't read the thread just in case! Have been wanting to read it for a while.
It is thin though! I can't help myself from appreciating a big fat book when I head to the till!

AgentProvocateur - I did however just see your last post!!

I was and remain troubled by the £500. I always thought blood money was paid by the transgressor to the victim as a way of publicly acknowledging guilt, thereby providing compensation and also averting the danger of vendetta-type revenge attacks. I believe it was part of the old Norse legal code, blood money being set by an 'judge'. How does fit in with the story? No idea. Can someone ring Mr Barnes up and just ask him, it is starting to really annoy me
depob I can't get my head around the £500 either. It works perfectly as a metaphor for war reparations, if Sarah Ford is Germany, Veronica is Austria and Adrian is Serbia (roughly :) ) but as a real-life gesture I can't make sense of it. Veronica is the one who refers to it as blood money, but I think she's being ironic, Phony Tony is the least-affected of all of the characters.
Yes, Mr Barnes - why would Sarah send him a cheque for £50 other than as a plot device?