I LOVE (get it?) the way this man writes! He's a GENIUS. I had to look up words on every page it seems, which in turn took me twice as long to read the book (only 227 pgs). Either the British have a completely different, every-day vocabulary OR I'm sadly lacking in my knowledge (or both......).
The way JULIAN BARNES presented the story, by having each character alternately share an opinion, a perspective or an update, was brilliant and entertaining. It was fun to know up front that GILLIAN was currently married to OLIVER and she had previously been married to STUART. Ahhhh, LOVE!
And of course, for more "LOVE" and kicks, there is TERRIE and ELLIE - each of whom expand STUART'S "love-life", or perhaps more appropriately stated, his "sex-life". There are a few graphic sex passages, which can be disturbing to the more conservative of readers...... you are forewarned.
So, OLIVER goes on and on with his "philosophy" about things. STUART is STUART. GILLIAN is an interesting character and she's misunderstood, I believe. And the other characters fill in the blanks.
It is so perfectly titled - "LOVE, ETC.".
I literally fell in LOVE with JULIAN BARNES when I read his MAN BOOKER PRIZE winning book, "THE SENSE OF AN ENDING". I LOVED his writing style and I couldn't get over the HUGE story that he told in less than 200 pages! Alternatively, a friend of mine said "I had a SENSE that it was NEVER GOING TO END!!". She didn't appreciate that book nor his writing the way I did.
I fell in LOVE with JULIAN BARNES all over again with this book. He's a MASTER at story-telling and in such a DEEP way. Are the things he writes, feelings that he's had personally, or thoughts he's had or experiences that he's had or is his imagination just that far-reaching?
I'm going to read it again right away to see if I remember any of the new vocabulary I learned (or most likely have promptly forgotten). I highlighted in yellow so many passages that "spoke to me", or that I found thought-provoking, or that were entertaining...... that the book is filled now with the color yellow!
Too many passages to share that are notable, so here is just one from each (STUART, OLIVER and GILLIAN) from CHAPTER 2:
STUART - "We met, we fell in love, we married. I made the mistake of thinking that was the end of the story, when it was only the beginning. I suppose it's a mistake lots of people make."
OLIVER - "Do we not, each of us, write the novel of our life as we go along? But how few, alas , are publishable."
GILLIAN - "The point is, you can love two people, one after the other, one interrupting the other, like I did. You can love them in different ways. And it doesn't mean one love is true and the other is false. That's what I wish I could have convinced Stuart. I loved each of them truly. You don't believe me? Well, it doesn't matter, I no longer argue the case. I just say: it didn't happen to you, did it? It happened to me."
JOAN
