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Review
" Extraordinary.... First rate.... A cracking good yarn."
- "The New York Times Book Review"
" An absorbing fictional re-creation of a real-life detective story. . . . A finely evocative historical novel as well as a morally and psychologically astute glimpse into the worlds of two men."
- "Los Angeles Times Book Review"
" Masterly throughout. . . . The author keeps the reader on edge."
- "The Washington Post Book World"
" Deeply satisfying. . . . From the first chapter, Barnes has us in his thrall." - "San Francisco Chronicle"
" A page-turner.... "Arthur & George" is by far Mr. Barnes's most pressurized novel to date." - "The Wall Street Journal"
" Utterly absorbing, beautifully crafted.... Rich and immensely readable.... A stream of flawless, driving sentences.... A great novel." - "O, The Oprah Magazine"
" A marvelous book." - "Entertainment Weekly," " A"
" His most engrossing novel ever." - Jay McInerney, "The New York Observer"
- "The New York Times Book Review"
" An absorbing fictional re-creation of a real-life detective story. . . . A finely evocative historical novel as well as a morally and psychologically astute glimpse into the worlds of two men."
- "Los Angeles Times Book Review"
" Masterly throughout. . . . The author keeps the reader on edge."
- "The Washington Post Book World"
" Deeply satisfying. . . . From the first chapter, Barnes has us in his thrall." - "San Francisco Chronicle"
" A page-turner.... "Arthur & George" is by far Mr. Barnes's most pressurized novel to date." - "The Wall Street Journal"
" Utterly absorbing, beautifully crafted.... Rich and immensely readable.... A stream of flawless, driving sentences.... A great novel." - "O, The Oprah Magazine"
" A marvelous book." - "Entertainment Weekly," " A"
" His most engrossing novel ever." - Jay McInerney, "The New York Observer"
Book Description
An extraordinary true-life tale from Booker prize-winning author Julian Barnes
Inside This Book
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
63 of 64 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Short listed for the Booker and certainly the best read of all six books, I found it compelling. The two characters are very well drawn. They are different from each other in almost every way and yet you feel sympathy and interest for them whilst at the same time understanding their flaws.
It almost reads like a thriller. You are so keen to find out what happens next and yet the events in the book are also treated with a comfortable safeness that is the very essence of what it feels like to live in England: big issues are there but they are normalised to hold them at bay. You feel comforted by the normality but irritated at the same time.
Barnes tackles the notion of 'how things look' and 'how things are' really well. Given that we live in such a celebrity obsessed age that only cares about how things look and believes there is truth in how things appear, then the ideas the book tackles are very relevant and real. Yet somehow the whole thing is done by telling you a really good story with complex intellectual ideas carefully woven into the narrative.
I had to ration myself the last hundred pages because I was enjoying reading it so much and particularly the chapter where Arthur goes to see Anson(?) - the best chapter in the book!It's also very atmospheric, you really do experience the smell and feel of Edwardian England.
73 of 75 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I bought this on a whim. Longlisted (now shortlisted) for the Booker, a very nice cover, an interesting sounding plot...Boy, am I glad I did. I enjoyed this book tremendously. I've never read Barnes before, and Im glad I've put that right. This is a gripping story of two men: Arthur Conan Doyle, and George Edalji. The first half of the book centres on the two men's passage through life, from childhood to the relative firmament of adulthood. Actually, this is the most gripping half of the book. Doyle...well, we know who Doyle is. Edalji is the son of a local clergyman, and grows up into a relatively sucessful solicitor. Eventually the two men's paths cross as they're both swept up - in entirely different ways - by a series of events known as The Great Wyrely Outrages.
Arthur & George is a super book for two reasons: Barnes' accomplished, brilliant writing, the tone of which is matched faultlessly to the time-period concerned, and the portrait of the two main characters. Indeed, this is the novels central triumph, the presentation and investigation of the psyche's of both men, Arthur and George. George is, actually, by far the more interesting of the two figures. Son of an immigrant who is now a respected vicar, he's largely isolated at school, a solemn lad who largely misunderstands (or just plain doesn't get) the mysterious behaviour of his fellow children (and, later, men), and turns into a largely isolated adult as well. This makes him an easy target when a series of poison-pen letters, graffiti and other strange incidents start happening in the village of Great Wyreley, culminating in a series of cattle "rippings". He refuses, though, to accept that what happens to him has anything to do with his race.
As I say, Barnes' picture of the two men is brilliant. George is a restrained, wonderfully frustrating character (in the way of all humans), and he bears his fate with a great sense of dignity, even though he, or so it seems to the world, has none left. Arthur is fascinating too, but less so, and Barnes does get a little distracted half-way through when he concerns himself with Doyle's courting activities. This isn't an uninteresting strand, and does give nice insight into the character, but given that the book is a tad long, in the end, this could have been excised nicely and made for an even more powerful book.
Arthur and George is VERY highly recommended. It's easy to read, intelligent, and Barnes shows a clear and remarkable insight into the minds of his two characters. I have to wonder, though, if it quite deserves the Booker...somehow, excellent though the whole thing is, I don't think so.
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Arthur and George is a fine read, but it unwinds slowly and at the end I found myself wondering why it had taken so long to tell as a story. Interweaving the stories of Arthur (Conan Doyle) - and George (unknown Parsee solicitor living a modest, quiet life) - Julian Barnes has painstakingly re-constructed a mystery and mis-carriage of justice that occurred in Edwardian England. It is beautifully done, capturing the feel of the period well in terms of style and language, but towards the end it felt a little laboured, and almost ran out of steam. Nevertheless, it's a book worthy of serious attention, and certainly will have you gripped as events unfold.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A Powerful Book
This was a choice of the book club I belong to and when I received it I was somewhat non-plussed to see its bulk. Read more
Published 27 days ago by W. Tegner
Well-Dramatized Dual Biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the...
"It is a joy for the just to do justice,
But destruction will come to the workers of iniquity." -- Proverbs 21:15 (NKJV)
Many people primarily know about Sir Arthur... Read more
But destruction will come to the workers of iniquity." -- Proverbs 21:15 (NKJV)
Many people primarily know about Sir Arthur... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Donald Mitchell
Double Delight
With Julian Barnes back in the news by winning the Booker Prize I suddenly realised I'd never read anything by him. Had meant to read Arthur & George but never got round to it. Read more
Published 6 months ago by nickyb
Fabulous read!
In the past I had always shied away from books which have been listed for a prize, especially the Man Booker, but this one seemed to grab my attention. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Marann
Interesting, historical novel
Beautifully written, as one would expect but quite dreary at times. An insight to the famous author and a little known solicitor in early 1900s. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Charlie
Literary page turner
Barnes has produced a beautifully written detective story which explores celebrity, identity and race, and how these interplay with one another and the English legal system. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Robert Cordner
I didn't warm to the main characters . . .
This story ought to be emotional, even heart-wrenching. The "George" of the title is subjected to an appalling injustice; partly the result of ignorant malice, partly of official... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Peasant
Excellent book
This book tells the stories of Arthur and George at the beginning of the 20th century. Their stories begin separately and come together towards the end. Read more
Published 19 months ago by miss_spookiness
The Strange Case Of The Poison Letters
Involving and intriguing novelisation of a real life cause celebre, now long forgotten, from the Victorian Age. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Rotgut
An Amazing Read!
This is a fantastic book that I couldn't put down. The story is 100 years old, yet extremely relevant in 2010. Read more
Published 21 months ago by amlove
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