Talking It Over

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. Whether there was any communication between the authors regarding their stories, or whether the muse visited them independently, I have no idea at all. If the latter, the resemblance between the plot-lines is nothing less than startling. Safe and slightly dull financial professional has a showy and erratic best friend. Dull professional marries well, and wife deserts him for erratic and showy best friend, whom she then marries. The second marriage fails, partly through Aristotelian hamartia of best friend. The b/f gets his deserved comeuppance, this providing some cold and partial consolation to the wronged dull professional. Julian Barnes is talented in the extreme. Not only is the book as well written as those familiar with his other work would expect, the plot gives him the opportunity to parade some of his own prejudices regarding the proper use of English, these prejudices being of course voiced by the characters in the book and not directly by the author (as if we would be fooled). In fact it is the persons of the drama who talk from first page to last, never the author for himself, and it is not just the three protagonists but the minor supporting cast as well. This device is very cleverly and adroitly used, again as we would expect, but I myself am sometimes inclined to find Barnes just a little too smart for his own good or for my appreciation as a reader. The start of the book is completely brilliant, for example, with the two lonely-hearts falling for each other, and the talkative Oliver playing gooseberry. His own discomfiture at being in this position and the way he talks too much in compensation are ultra-perceptive observation by the author, and I have the strong impression that he knows that himself. How the story then develops until the ousted Stuart finally becomes the unwanted presence that brings Oliver's downfall about is clever, original and convincing, or clever and original at least. The whole book shows a sharp eye for character and situations, and an even sharper ear for how some kinds of people talk when they are forced to come to terms with their real thoughts and motivations. What I found very successful was the way Barnes keeps his distance from his characters and ensures that they are really talking for themselves rather than for himself. Every incident and every situation in this book challenges us to be judgmental, but if any judging is going to be done the author makes sure that we are left doing it. His style is also light, graceful and in the last degree skilful, and you will get through the book's 270 or so pages before you think. Very readable, very persuasive and I suppose very recommendable. I gave Dunster 5 stars when I reviewed that, so I have no other option here.

...Anyway, not going into details, I think this book is an absolute linguistic feast. It is very easy to write in different jargons to make the impression that many people are speaking; but it is very often [incorrect]. With Barnes, we see absolutely every character in the story alive, including short comments by the flower girl or Gallic wisdom of Gillian's mother. This is sooo difficult to render in translation faithfully...The sequel to the book, "Love, etc.", continues in the same vein, but it's much darker. Which it should be.And one more thing: some reviewers compared "Talking It Over" with Truffault's "Jules et Jim". I wonder if they saw the movie. Apart from the fact that there is a "love triangle" (where isn't?), there are no similiarities whatsoever. I think they just fell into the trap Mr. Barnes had set for them by mentioning the film in the book.

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!

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. Turn the page and then be told of the effect their actions were upon another of your new acquaintances. This book almost becomes interactive. If it were to be read to you, instead of by you, you would undoubtedly answer, interrupt and question them, and then yourself for talking to those who are not there. You would likely take sides, and wish you could conspire to help the party you favor.The Author Julian Barnes places you in the midst of a triangle, albeit one with tangential appendages, and the story that transpires is only a bit less unusual than the form the book takes. The reader is expected to be the listener, provide a shoulder, and sometimes to refuse the proffered cigarette less neutrality is to be compromised. The menagerie Mr. Barnes provides as your newfound pals, range from the mundane, to the brilliantly eccentric, and when brought together form an eclectic group. The cameos played by the briefest of speakers often come under the heading "He/she lies like an eyewitness". All believe they speak the truth, but truth is relative, perspective is everything.Mr. Barnes is egalitarian as you are chosen to lend your sympathetic ear to men, women, the young and the not so young. He also offers the occasional insight from a player whose appearance doesn't even rate that of a cameo, florists as psychologists.He also takes the most familiar range of human emotion and demonstrates with an ease that is a bit disconcerting, how double edged and painful they can be, This is true whether he cuts a swath with a broadsword, or slips a stiletto from the hand of one friend to the vitals of another.Triangles are used to describe the actions between 3 individuals. Mr. Barnes uses the same shape, but the complexity of his writing requires more than one. A pyramid might result, at once the most stable of shapes, and repeatedly pointed as well.A wonderful commentator on the human condition.

Julian Barnes is an absolute master when it comes to examiningthe psychy of intimate relationships. "Talking It Over" isthe best book that i've read ever. Barnes is not only an original writer, he comes up with amazing and unique ideas (like in "The History Of The World In 10 and a half Chapters"). The book deserves to win loads of awards and accalade as well as Barnes!! If you've not read it then DO because it is funny, clever, sad, endearing, sexy, frustrating and... well just down right brilliant!!!!