Want to write about this book asap because, ironically, I know I’ll forget about it very shortly. A book about memory and its unreliability and it’ll soon be nothing but a couple of fleeting impressions and images. It was that kind of book for me.
Overall it’s an easy and ok read, but the Booker Prize did its work and I started out with very high hopes.
The story is about Tony, who takes us on a trip down the memory lane of his youth, his group of four best friends and his first girlfriend. The problem is that neither Tony or any of the other characters are terribly appealing. There’s nothing wrong with flawed characters, unless their main flaw is their boringness.
I found Tony in particular a pretty uninteresting person (and the important question is always: did the author want to make him that way?).
He always seems to have a very mild and detached approach to everything. A detachment that at points seems self-serving, which is confirmed by his sad current life: a failed marriage, a distant relationship with his daughter, a complete lack of friends. He goes out of his way to convince us and himself that he’s actually a caring and considerate person and bends his memory to show it. This careful re-arrangement of memories was probably the best part of the book. Made me think how we all do it, even if just for the sake of self-presentation.
I also had high hopes for the ending of the book, and not only because of the title. I knew from other reviews I could expect a big revelation, but after closing the last page I had to go online just to confirm that I really got it and if that was really all there was to get. Unfortunately, it was. I’m not even complaining about the loose ends (“blood money“?), but the resolution felt a bit (dare I say it of Julian Barnes and a Booker Prize?) unsubtle. And more so because it’s presented as a Dramatic Mystery Resolution.
Also, for those of you who’ve read the book, was I the only one who thought this was a Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus story? Every single woman in it is incomprehensible and/or unbalanced, but again I can’t tell if it’s because we see them thought Tony’s eyes or if Barnes meant them to be like this.
I’m usually a big fan of Julian Barnes, but this one I’ll have to archive in the ok-but-don’t-get-the-fuss shelf.
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Other thoughts: Asylum, Pages Turned, So Many Books, The Literary Stew, Tales from the Reading Room, Shelf Life, Aquatique, Shelf Love, Stuck in a Book, nomadreader, Always Cooking Up Something, She is Too Fond of Books, Book Atlas (yours?)
11 comments
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February 20, 2013 at 9:52 pm
heavenali
I think Julian Barnes writingis good – but this novel left me a little cold. I also often like flawed characters – but not this one really. I did think the seond half of the book better than the first half – for me things livened up a bit then.
February 21, 2013 at 9:52 am
Alex
Have the feeling that he wrote the whole thing during one boring afternoon without putting a lot into it. Bet he felt a bit guilty when the Booker announcement came out 😛
February 20, 2013 at 9:53 pm
Nose in a book
I completely agree. No subtlety to this book and the ex girlfriend is pointlessly obtuse. So disappointing after enjoying Barnes’ previous works.
February 21, 2013 at 9:59 am
Alex
The ex-girlfriend was such a weird element that to this day I don’t know what to think of her. There is really no reason for some of her wild attitudes towards Tony.
February 20, 2013 at 11:43 pm
Ti
I think my review posts tomorrow but I was annoyed with it. I didn’t think much of the big reveal and what was with all the weirdness? Like the horizontal hand gesture???
February 21, 2013 at 10:00 am
Alex
I was wondering about that gesture as well and even googled it in particular. Some theories say that Tony and Sarah has the affair and that it was some sort of secret code, but I’m not convinced at all.
February 21, 2013 at 12:31 pm
Joanna @ CreateYourWorld
I hate when a booker-type book leaves you disappointed! I’ve never read anything by him, I guess I’ll skip this one.
February 21, 2013 at 4:37 pm
Andi (@estellasrevenge)
This is one of those books that I appreciated when I read it, but it’s definitely faded into “nothing special” with time.
February 21, 2013 at 8:43 pm
Charlie
From what you’ve said it sounds as though the author made the character that way (a guess though because I’ve not read it). Interesting that you like his work but this one, that was up for the Booker, didn’t impress.
February 22, 2013 at 8:49 pm
readingwithtea
My Dad read it and loved it, but said if it won the Booker, the committee must have been all 60-year-old white men; it is very much about the experience of that age group and the fallability of memory. I enjoyed it but I think I was deceived a bit by the hype.
February 23, 2013 at 11:48 pm
storberose
I’m interested in reading Julian Barnes, but this doesn’t look like a good start. A novel called A History of the World in 10½ Chapters seems more interesting 🙂
Incidentally, I’m awarding you the blog of the year award:
http://storberose.blogspot.pt/2013/02/blog-of-year-2012-award.html