Literary fiction · Similar reads
Books like The Sense of an Ending
The best books like The Sense of an Ending are Normal People, The Bell Jar, and In Cold Blood. The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes is about memory and self-deception, guilt, the unreliable past. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- Normal People
01
Sally Rooney · Literary fiction
Normal People follows Connell and Marianne from their small-town Irish secondary school through their years at Trinity College Dublin.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - The Bell Jar
02
Sylvia Plath · Memoir
The Bell Jar is Sylvia Plath's only novel, published in January 1963 under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas, one month before Plath's death.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - In Cold Blood
03
Truman Capote · Memoir
Truman Capote's account of the 1959 murders of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas — and of the investigation, capture, trial, and execution of the killers Perry Smith and Richard Hickock — is the founding document of the true crime genre and one of the most admired works of American nonfiction of the twentieth century.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - A Moveable Feast
04
Ernest Hemingway · Memoir
A Moveable Feast is Hemingway's posthumously published account of his years in Paris during the 1920s, when he and his first wife Hadley lived cheaply in Montparnasse while he apprenticed himself to the work of becoming a writer.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - The Great Gatsby
05
F. Scott Fitzgerald · Classics
The Great Gatsby is narrated by Nick Carraway, a young Midwesterner who moves to Long Island in the summer of 1922 and finds himself adjacent to the fabulous, mysterious parties of his neighbor Jay Gatsby.
A kindred literary fiction read.
Read the summary → - A Visit from the Goon Squad
06
Jennifer Egan · Literary fiction
A Visit from the Goon Squad is a novel told in thirteen chapters, each from a different point of view and sometimes in a radically different form — including one chapter composed entirely as a PowerPoint presentation.
Both dig into time and aging.
Read the summary → - Heart of Darkness
07
Joseph Conrad · Literary fiction
Marlow, a sailor sitting on a boat on the Thames, tells the story of a journey he made up the Congo River to find Kurtz, a brilliant company agent who has gone silent deep in the interior.
Both dig into complicity.
Read the summary → - The Blind Assassin
08
Margaret Atwood · Literary fiction
The Blind Assassin won the Man Booker Prize in 2000 and is arguably Atwood's most formally intricate novel.
Both dig into memory and self-deception.
Read the summary → - A Memory Called Empire
09
Arkady Martine · Science fiction
Mahit Dzmare, ambassador from a small, semi-independent mining station to the vast Teixcalaanli Empire, arrives at the capital to find her predecessor has died under suspicious circumstances and the neural implant that was supposed to give her access to his memories and knowledge is three years out of date.
Both dig into complicity.
Read the summary → - And Then There Were None
10
Agatha Christie · Mystery
Ten strangers are invited to an island off the Devon coast under various pretexts.
Both dig into memory and self-deception.
Read the summary → - Babel
11
R.F. Kuang · Historical fiction
Set in an alternate 1830s Oxford, Babel imagines a Royal Institute of Translation at the heart of the British Empire — a place where silver bars engraved with translation "match-words" generate the industrial magic that powers British supremacy.
Both dig into complicity.
Read the summary → - On the Genealogy of Morality
12
Friedrich Nietzsche · Philosophy
On the Genealogy of Morality is Nietzsche's most rigorously argued work — three sustained essays that trace the historical origins of moral concepts he believes we have inherited without examining.
Both dig into guilt.
Read the summary →
Books like The Sense of an Ending: quick answers
What are the best books like The Sense of an Ending?
The best books like The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes are Normal People by Sally Rooney, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with The Sense of an Ending, such as memory and self-deception, guilt, the unreliable past.
What should I read after The Sense of an Ending?
A natural next read after The Sense of an Ending is Normal People by Sally Rooney. A kindred literary fiction read. Other strong choices are The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway.
What books are similar to The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes?
The Sense of an Ending centers on memory and self-deception, guilt, the unreliable past. Books with a similar feel include Normal People by Sally Rooney, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
