Julian Barnes has tremendous ability as a writer, as I discovered in The Sense of an Ending and currently now in The History of the World in 10 1/2 chapters. Unfortunately, I feel this would be one of his weaker novels and would not recommend it to anyone but a completist who loves everything else Barnes has ever done. This is not to say that it's toss away garbage but there are others one should definitely read first surely (the other two I mentioned, for instance). I'd also love to receive further recommendations about Barnes' novels if anyone has them!So, while this novel does not put me off completely from Barnes, aside from a little bit at the end and the way the perspective switches back and forth between mainly two male protagonists and the female caught in the love triangle (with guest appearances by the female's mother and a couple of other axillary characters), the novel is largely formulaic. The plot, especially, is trite, and Barnes almost half-heartedly admits it at one point that the love affair with the best friend is predictable and overdone...so why did he do it? I'm really not sure about all of that. I think he thought he was setting up interesting characters. Gillian is an art restorer who peels away layers after layers of paint to reveal what is underneath. Stuart is a low on confidence banker and Oliver is an educated and posh sort of person who has difficulty telling the truth and has been involved in other scandals involving teaching English (and another less verbal language) to those who are learning it as a second language. The novel is set mainly in England with a little bit of it in America and a little bit in France. It was interesting hearing the different perspective of sometimes all three main characters on one event but the unfortunate thing is that even usually wasn't all that amazing to read about the first time. But, Barnes does indeed charm just a little bit with his active voice and his characters acknowledging they have a captive audience and try to win the reader over to his/her side of thing. That is definitely one strength of the book.But again, the plot for the most part is largely predictable and the biggest loss I felt was for Gillian, who in the end makes a decision that is perhaps the more common one but I still didn't agree with it. This also gets back to why I love my favorite books-it's usually because I love the characters. The writing style and plot help, sure...but most of the time even if something is well written and unpredictable, I still have to love the characters. I have to share in their sadnesses and joys. I have to believe in their selves and adventures. If a writer explores only despicable characters (which I admit many great novels have done), I generally find the reading a harrowing experience and don't enjoy it too much.That said, I didn't really enjoy Talking It Over very much. It was trite and I just didn't like any of the characters. I could sympathize with Stuart a bit but that's where it ended. There are many novels in this world and we're all short on time. Go read something else!Quotes I liked. pg. 11 "Imagine the organ of recollection as a left-luggage clerk at some thrumming terminus who looks after your picayune possessions until you next need them. Now consider what you're asking him to take care of. And for so little money! And for so little thanks! It's no wonder the counter isn't manned half the time. My way with memory is to entrust it only with things it will take some pride in looking after."17 "If you remember your past too well you start blaming your present for it. ...They say that as you get older, you remember your earliest years better. One of the many tank traps that lie ahead: senility's revenge. Have I told you my Theory of Life by the way? Life is like invading Russia. A blitz start, massed shakos, plumes dancing like a flustered henhouse; a period of svelte progress recorded in ebullient dispatches as the enemy falls back; then the beginning of a long, morale-sapping trudge with rations getting shorter and the first snowflakes upon your face. The enemy burns Moscow and you yield to General January whose fingernails are very icicles. Bitter retreat. Harrying Cossacks. Eventually you fall beneath a boy-gunner's grapeshot while crossing some Polish river not even marked on your general's map."pg. 64 "I was also gone in the sense that I was transformed, made over. You know that story of the man who wakes up and finds he's turned into a beetle? I was the beetle who woke up and saw the possibility of being a man."pg. 175 "You've got to be responsible for your own happiness-you can't expect it to come flopping through the door like a parcel. You've got to be practical in these matters. People sit at home thinking Some Day My Prince Will Come. But that's no good unless you've got a sign up saying Princes Welcome Here."pg. 247 "I';; tell you something you haven't heard before. Pravda is Russian for truth. No, I guessed yo knew that. What I'm going to tell you is this: there is no rhyme for pravda in Russian. Ponder and weigh that insufficiency. Doesn't that just echo down the canyons of your mind?"
This is the first Julian Barnes I've read. One word comes to mind to describe his writing and that is "control". How can I explain that more? There are no extra words, ideas, paragraphs, characters, or scenes in his book. Every word is tightly woven into the story. All writers aspire to achieve that. Julian Barnes' Talking It Over is an excellent and rare example of that kind of control. I get the sense that Barnes knows exactly what he wants to say and gets straight to the business of saying it, even though I'm sure the process of writing it down is more complicated than that.The book is a page turner. Not predictable drugstore pulp, because the tone of the book is more sophisticated than that. But Barnes is a master of plot, giving enough away to make you wonder why, and holding enough back to keep you wondering how? I'd like to know if he gets into his plot in detail before beginning to write, or if he reigns in his creations while editing. Another commendation, his characters are interesting right off the bat. I especially liked Oliver (though I'd loathe him if I knew him in the real world). Barnes uses the different characters' voices in just the right doses, allowing them to go on at length to develop the plot at times, and giving them just a few lines to sprinkle in tension at others. The voices bounce off each other to show the same stories from their various points of view, and it's great fun for the reader to anticipate what each of their different stories will be.
What do You think about Talking It Over (1992)?
This is the February title for our monthly work book club, chosen by my colleague and friend. Did I like it? Not particularly. Was it well-written? Kind of. Was it witty (as promised by said friend)? If it was, I hardly ever got it - I only found it funny in one or two places.The thing is, I really hate reading novels about weak, weird people, so I guess I was never going to love this! The characters: Oliver is obviously disagreeable - a snob, arrogant, ultimately insecure - and quite a stereotype. Gillian is weak, indecisive and unlikable - I can't stand people who can't make up their mind and I can't stand people who cheat. Stuart is nice, sincere and perhaps a bit boring, and then turns a bit mean when life lets him down. In the end I liked Stuart the most, despite his unsavoury activities towards the end of the book, and I was pleased with the ending that befell Gillian and Oliver.Would I recommend it? Only if you like reading about weak, weird, depressing people!
—Marte Patel
Talking It Over is the story of three people, Stuart, Gillian, and 5th wheel Stuart, caught in a love triangle. Told from each of their perspectives 'directly to camera', we learn how the love of each pair develops and ultimately unravels.Many people have commented that the characters are thoroughly unlikable, but I found their flaws compelling, and thoroughly enjoyed reading about them. I think it is testament to Barnes' keen eye that the characters are so well drawn that they create this dislike; straight-laced Stuart is the tightly wound ball of yarn that unravels with each tug by wily cat Oliver, whilst Gillian looks on twiddling her thumbs. I am sure everyone has a friend who is at heart one of these characters and there's also an excellent supporting cast - the snarky shop assistant is a favourite.Getting the accounts of each individual in the triangle is occasionally really funny, and adds real poignancy to the story as each person fails to interpret the motivations of the other. Oliver's narration was deliberately wordy, as befitting the character, but Barnes also occasionally lets this slip into the account of the other two which I found a little frustrating. Whilst the endings is a little over-wrought, this was really enjoyable book and I will certainly seek out the sequel.
—Tulpesh Patel
Him, and me, and her.Me. And him. And her.Him and me, and him.Her and me, and him.Me, and him and her.Him and him and me.Us and him.Me and her and him.Him and me, and me and him.Them and me.Me and her, and him.Me and him. And him.Punctuation, and Pronouns are Important, we are taught that early on in the novel. These characters rarely say you. They are talking it over, yes, but not with each other. Each one talks out to, to, to..... well, me. The Reader. The Audience. Each has his or her (cumbersome!) own version of what happened. And each warns us at the beginning: Stuart remembers everything, Oliver only remembers the important stuff and Gillian doesn't really want to remember at all.English as a Second Language used to be called something else:EFL, by the way. Nobody sees the joke. English as a Foreign Language. No? Let me put it into a sentence: 'I'm teaching English as a Foreign Language.' Look, the point is, if that's how it's being taught, it's not surprising that most of our alumni can't buy a bus-ticket to Bayswater. Why don't they teach English as English, that's what I want to know.That is a perfect illustration of how irritating Oliver can be. I was already laughing at I'm teaching English as a Foreign Language, but then he has to bang on and stick it in your face. Talking of which, I was laughing again a bit later when I discovered that Oliver, for all his brash bright breezy 'intelligence' doesn't know what a Glasgow Kiss is. Ha.
—·Karen·
