Paris, spring 1968. Christopher is fully occupied revelling in first lust. Just a short Métro ride away from les événements, as Toni never ceases to remind him. Winner of the Somerset Maugham Prize.
Metroland
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"Barnes writes like a dream." --Village Voice Literary Supplement
Book Description
'I cannot remember when I enjoyed a first novel more' Daily Telegraph
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
For the adolescent Christopher, born of a middle class family in the middle class rural suburbs of the estate agents' and adman's conceptualised Metroland - defined after the First World War as the path travelled by the old Metropolitan railway line out from Baker Street to Watford, Chesham and Amersham - life is about big issues. He and his friend Toni are obsessed with the "purity of language, perfectibility of self, function of art" and Love, Truth and Authenticity. Always capitalised, and often according to the wisdom of such literary luminaries as Rimbaud and Flaubert.
Christopher's transition into adulthood is undertaken in a different Metroland - Paris in 1968. Whilst the student riots rage not far away, Christopher is too busy finding out about the realities of love, truth and authenticity to become involved. Such realities ultimately lead him back to his own childhood metroland again. But now he sees it and life through different eyes.
Barnes paints a rich picture in the reader's imagination, and his use of language is poetic, descriptive and colloquial in turn. To enjoy this, you first have to overcome a sneaking suspicion that you are not quite clever enough to read it. This was compounded (on my part anyway) by having only a smattering knowledge of French and a complete ignorance of most of the authors, playwrights, philosophers and artists dropped into the narrative like so many starlets at a Hello! party.
However, once you've determined not to let this deter you, the novel blossoms into a funny and realistic recollection of the ideals, presumptions and pretensions of one's teenage years, and the recognition that in the end life is often rather more straightforward and mundane than you thought it would be.
... Read more ›16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
By A. Peel
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Metroland is a very intimate and enchanting novel written in the first person. The reader is drawn into Chris, the narrator's, world at the very outset and from that point on, we are taken on a journey through life, time and age.
We start out in the mind of a 16 year old boy, feeling all his hopes and ideals alongside him, sharing his philosophies and questions with his closest friends in a haven of teenage, mutual, intellectual exchange.
Then comes Paris, May '68. Chris has matured. We sense that he has begun to live, and has become increasingly uncertain of how the realities of life fit in with his childhood ideals.
As the work draw slowly to a close the narrator is experiencing "real" life to the full; the marriage, the mortgage and the child, and yet the need to question seems to have been appeased. We now sense his readiness to live life day by day, without too much forward-thinking. With age, he no longer really asks why things happen, he merely accepts.
The ageing process we feel in the novel is fascinating, in particular when we consider the relationship between the two childhood "best friends", Chris and Toni. As children they seem to parralel so closely, with similar beliefs and concerns, yet as time passes their priorities and goals move in conflicting directions. Chris adapted his ideals to reality. Toni, on the other hand, tried to live by his childhood ideals as an adult, torturing himself in the process in the hopes of being true to his past self and his broken dreams.
Some of us mature and develop and some are children forever ....who is happier?
We start out in the mind of a 16 year old boy, feeling all his hopes and ideals alongside him, sharing his philosophies and questions with his closest friends in a haven of teenage, mutual, intellectual exchange.
Then comes Paris, May '68. Chris has matured. We sense that he has begun to live, and has become increasingly uncertain of how the realities of life fit in with his childhood ideals.
As the work draw slowly to a close the narrator is experiencing "real" life to the full; the marriage, the mortgage and the child, and yet the need to question seems to have been appeased. We now sense his readiness to live life day by day, without too much forward-thinking. With age, he no longer really asks why things happen, he merely accepts.
The ageing process we feel in the novel is fascinating, in particular when we consider the relationship between the two childhood "best friends", Chris and Toni. As children they seem to parralel so closely, with similar beliefs and concerns, yet as time passes their priorities and goals move in conflicting directions. Chris adapted his ideals to reality. Toni, on the other hand, tried to live by his childhood ideals as an adult, torturing himself in the process in the hopes of being true to his past self and his broken dreams.
Some of us mature and develop and some are children forever ....who is happier?
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The narrator of this unremarkable tale is that special kind of obnoxious, conceited, intellectual who has come to the conclusion that he has something witty and insightful to say about life but he's wrong. The protagonist has no redeeming features and the storytelling is smug, uneventful and dull. I hated this piece of self-glorification from the first page and it just got worse.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By C. Dawson
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I really disliked this book and found it very difficult to finish. I had to struggle through a few pages at a time because I found Chris, the subject of the book, self centred and boring, so I had little interest in his life. I found the French passages, which I could not access, annoying and elitist. Julian Barnes used language well of course and I started to get vaguely interested in the history of the Metropolitan line, before the focus returned to Chris. Paris in the late1960s was an interesting place but there was no description or interest taken in events.
I recommend reading something else.
I recommend reading something else.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Sally
Format:Paperback
I loved this. The voices are so immediately clear, and the early chapters about schoolboy obsessions and the smart-alecky things they do and say are really very entertaining. It's a slim volume, but no less weighty for it. Not sure why it's taken so long for me to get round to reading it, but I'm glad I have - and heartily recommend.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By BS on parade
Format:Paperback
Years ago I watched the film version starring Christian Bale and Emily Watson. It was a standard issue, mediocre, low budget British film with the standard issue low ambitions and too much interest in banal realism. A load of boring rubbish basically.
After having read a fair amount of the Julian Barnes back catalogue, I decided to at long last read his debut novel. Although novella is more accurate as it only took me four hours to read when the average is six hours.
I don't know a word of French, which renders a chunk of the book incomprehensible as a lot of untranslated words, phrases and quotes appear throughout the book. It's annoying.
Part one (pages 1 to 80) was okay in a, "it's not bad", sort of way. It deals with late adolescence as he tells us of his contempt for the comfortable, conformist life of the middle class working man with family. Nothing great is thought or done, but it's not a chore or anything to read.
Part two (pages 83 to 153) was good. Maybe even borderline very good. It deals with his time in Paris in 1968. He has his first and second love. It's interesting stuff.
Part three (pages 157 to 214) was a bit rubbish. It's about returning to England and joining the rank and file of conformist sheep going to work and raising families. It's a bit boring and lacking in anything to really hold your attention.
There is no conventional dramatic story with anything at stake during any of this.
I have to confess I skipped a chapter in part one, and skipped most of the end of part three. I am not someone who skips pages without very good reason. Those parts were deeply unpromising and I believe I missed nothing of vital, or even little, importance.... Read more ›
After having read a fair amount of the Julian Barnes back catalogue, I decided to at long last read his debut novel. Although novella is more accurate as it only took me four hours to read when the average is six hours.
I don't know a word of French, which renders a chunk of the book incomprehensible as a lot of untranslated words, phrases and quotes appear throughout the book. It's annoying.
Part one (pages 1 to 80) was okay in a, "it's not bad", sort of way. It deals with late adolescence as he tells us of his contempt for the comfortable, conformist life of the middle class working man with family. Nothing great is thought or done, but it's not a chore or anything to read.
Part two (pages 83 to 153) was good. Maybe even borderline very good. It deals with his time in Paris in 1968. He has his first and second love. It's interesting stuff.
Part three (pages 157 to 214) was a bit rubbish. It's about returning to England and joining the rank and file of conformist sheep going to work and raising families. It's a bit boring and lacking in anything to really hold your attention.
There is no conventional dramatic story with anything at stake during any of this.
I have to confess I skipped a chapter in part one, and skipped most of the end of part three. I am not someone who skips pages without very good reason. Those parts were deeply unpromising and I believe I missed nothing of vital, or even little, importance.... Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lovely look at life in the suburbs
As an inhabitant of Metroland myself I thoroughly enjoyed this short book - definitelty recommend! Though the novel could be a little longer in order for the characters to be... Read more
Published 23 hours ago by hcmwalker
3.0 out of 5 stars
Well written
Metroland is a beautifully written book but it is now dated. It is about a young man becoming an adult; his youthful arrogance and his first loves.
Published 1 month ago by EA Williams
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent thought provoking read
Barnes' book doesn't have great highs and lows, action or even much of a story, however it remains engaging and thought provoking throughout. Read more
Published 6 months ago by A. Grieve
5.0 out of 5 stars
Slim volume
I love all Julian Barnes' books and this was no exception, I just wish there had been more of it
Published 6 months ago by Clare Bolitho
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beginners luck?
I didn't expect too much of this first born of Barnes. But it surprised me al the way through. A little gem.
Published 23 months ago by G. de Bruin
4.0 out of 5 stars
True, True, However, And True
True, the coming of age story has been written ad nauseum. It is also true that the coming of age angle in the 1960's will also cause a reader to contemplate the moment just prior... Read more
Published on 25 Nov 2002 by taking a rest
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