I’ve just finished reading Talking it Over, followed by Love, etc. Talking it Over was typically fabulous Julian Barnes but it did require a sequel - or I did anyway, and Love, etc was the perfect sequel.
Oliver, Stuart and Gillian are the narrators through both books, with an occasional appearance, when necessary, from related voices. Sensible, plodding Stuart and barbed tongued, narcissistic Oliver are childhood friends, and irresistible art restorer Gillian is, at first, Stuart’s love interest. But what Stuart has, Oliver wants and so it begins. No one is particularly nice or well behaved, not even, and probably especially not, Stuart. Gillian seems to exist for the purpose of shaping Stuart’s and Oliver’s destinies. I went from not caring much for her at all to sympathising deeply with her.
I hate coming to the end of a Julian Barnes book which is why I was so happy to discover Love, etc. Is there yet another chapter to this story? I will have to find out.
Published by Vintage books
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