Talking It Over
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More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
In Talking it Over, Julian Barnes, acclaimed author of Flaubert's Parrot and Metroland, turns his attention to a peculiarly English ménage a trois. Stuart and Oliver have been friends since school. Stuart is painfully aware that "We're rather different, Oliver and me, Oliver impresses people", especially women, so when shy, awkward Stuart meets and marries the beautiful Gillian, an uneasy threesome develops between the two old friends and the new woman in their lives. Gradually the flamboyant Oliver realises "I'm in love with Gillie. I'm amazed, I'm overawed, I'm poo-scared".
As the emotional and sexual complications of their lives begin to unravel, the three characters takes it in turns to deliver monologues and the unfolding action to the reader, leading to repeated backtracking and reassessment of what has actually happened on the part of the reader, as the characters offer different perceptions of the same events. The book's epigraph is "He lies like an eye-witness", which could be applied to all three characters, as Gillian increasingly falls for Oliver and Stuart sinks into misery and dejection. The shocking denouement fails to prevent a feeling that, however brilliantly Barnes draws his three characters, there is very little in them with which to sympathise or identify, leaving the novel feeling like a deft but rather empty exercise in style. Nevertheless, Barnes fans will enjoy Barnes' typically elegant and mordant style and wit. --Jerry Brotton --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
'Few writers think and talk to beguilingly. This book is wonderfully funny. And intelligent. And moving' Independent on Sunday
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Barnes was criticised when this book was published for using a gimmick, and for being lightweight reading.
The criticism is totally unfounded - this really is a quality book.
It is a classic menage a trois, told in the first person by all three characters. The different views of identical events is entertaining and sometimes hilarious, and the love story will be familiar to everyone.
The characters are very real and you have met all of them (or at least parts of all of them) in your real life, and this gives the book real resonance.
I have read it three times (its extremely rare for me to read any book more than once), and it is easy to open a page at random and read a few pages.
Its impossible to read this book without smiling.
Highly recommended!
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
For anyone who has ever trodden the dark road to infidelity, or indeed, found themselves the unfortunate victim of sexual betrayal - Julian Barnes captures perfectly the progressive realisation of breaking up, from confusion to sadness, desperation and bitterness. That said, he maintains throughout a dark humour which pulls the story along nicely and makes the characters all the more real.
Bound up in love, intellect and history, the well-observed characters narrate their own versions of the story, allowing room for differing perspectives and humorous, sometimes painfully intrusive insights.
Always utterly readable, Barnes's character-driven, unaffected style lends itself perfectly to this love-triangle scenario between three kindred spirits. at the same time beautifully simple and painfully complex.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The basic plot is a menage a trois, but the whole story is told from the point of view of each of the three characters of this novel. Julian Barnes writes expertly about love, portraying the story from various points of view with wit, irony, subtlety. I enjoyed this one immensely, a real insight into the workings of the human mind and, especially, the heart. Don't expect anything too intellectual this one is an entertaining weekend read that you will enjoy and certainly pick up again for its sincere humour and the irony offered on love.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Clever talk
I find Barnes so thoughtful and smart - but at the same time witty and fun to read. None of the three main characters here are particularly likeable. Read more
Published 18 days ago by Simon Bendle
Kindle edition
Wonderful book, completely spolit by the poor quality Kindle edition. Examples include - and therefore not limited to! Read more
Published 6 months ago by BuyBuyBaby
Wonderful writing but contrived outcome
I really enjoyed the first part of the book and enjoyed the writing throughout. However, from about half way through, the plot seemed to lose touch with reality and then to fizzle... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Mr D P Gorsuch
Talking it Over
When coming to read this novel I was aware that opinion had been very varied and I have to admit I was a bit put off by the style of the novel. Read more
Published on 11 Dec 2009 by Joyce Williams
And over and over and over...
This is a book where a simple story of a love triangle is made more interesting by allowing the reader to view it from the perspectives of everyone involved (or everyone even... Read more
Published on 11 Sep 2009 by Cem Tanova
Style over substance?
Julian Barnes is a difficult author to love. He is one of the most inventive and innovative (in terms of style) writers that this country has seen for many years - but a bit like... Read more
Published on 22 July 2009 by Ripple
GOOSEBERRY
Not until I came to the end did I check the publication dates of this novel and John Mortimer's Dunster. Barnes has it. Talking It Over dates from 1991 and Dunster from 1992. Read more
Published on 16 Aug 2005 by DAVID BRYSON
Ready to Be a Confidant
Prepared or not, while you still must read, what you read is almost entirely directed to you. You are told what has happened, what your new friends think, and what they are to do. Read more
Published on 29 Nov 2002 by taking a rest
Painfully real
For anyone who has ever trodden the dark road to infidelity, or indeed, found themselves the unfortunate victim of sexual betrayal - Julian Barnes captures perfectly the... Read more
Published on 24 May 2001
the condemned
Ths is a fascinating book and particularly so from thr point of view of the narrator / author / interviewer. Read more
Published on 11 Sep 2000
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