Ana V.

well, this was a surprise. this book and I started off with the wrong foot, and for the first 60 - 70 pages i kept wondering if i'm going to have to do the unthinkable and give a bad opinion on a Barnes book. but then the universe sweated off this problem and made this work take the road of well - written literature. the three star rating might, therefore, come as a surprise, but don't be fooled - the rating system on GR is just a gimmick we play with, not a thing you should take for granted.

this is not and will never be my favorite Barnes work, but it keeps in with his writing fashion and draws the reader in with his typical dry humour. ( brits! can you do anything about it? ) but, just as his works might be taken as a way to pass time between other works, a conscious reader can see in it much more than your average wife-on-vacation.

as with all his works, his characters are meant to represent something. there is not one useless personae in all that i've read by him. because, see, there are characters, and there are your parents, or your friends, or your boyfriend that you find in some works and think: well, what would X do in this situation, because they sure are alike? many of Barnes' people reminded me of someone that i know or i knew of and it's more than a pleasure to intertwine these two worlds, as you rarely get to do that and is, truly, one of the testimonies for very good writing.

i have to say that my three star rating is a border decision, as it could be a 3.5 and it would in reality be a 4 .... if it wouldn't have been for that slow start. i just can't get over it - unforgivable sin!

all is good, though - my opinion on julian barnes' writing hasn't suffered any changes and my enthusiasm for any of his books hasn't been chipped.

phew, that could've been a close one.