After reading Julian Barnes' challenging novel "Flaubert's Parrot" I wanted something lighter. This book was certianly that. A heartwarming story about a parade of shops in a run down city centre where Frank's music shop only sells vinyl. He finds the music you need not what you want. Amongst the numerous examples are some that are new to me including Samuel Barber's wonderful "Adagio for Strings". It was also nice to revisit Duke Ellington's instrumental version of "Satin Doll" and finding out why "Wild Thing" by the Troggs is a lullaby.
The introduction of a mysterious German woman Ilse Brauchmann into the life of Frank takes the novel into different territory, but the other characters on Unity Street are never far away. Well written and never boring, the book is only let down by the strange final section. Otherwise it was a joy.
This was a big disappointment. After loving "A Far Cry from Kensington" and "Loitering with Intent" by Muriel Spark, I found this earlier novel became quite tiresome. it started off fine, having got used to the multiple characters. It had typical Spark witty dialogue, this time between the aged friends and relations. The writing is sharp and witty. Godfrey complains:" It was an instinctive reaction to the years of being a talented, celebrated woman's husband, knowing himself to be reaping continually in her harvest which he had not sown".
But after half way things became quite boring and there is a nasty event quite out of keeping with the rest of the book. Then the introduction of a main character towards the end seems silly. After all the critical acclaim, I was left cold.
When I first started this book some weeks ago, I found it too obscure for my taste and gave up after a few pages. But persevering this time, I gritted my teeth and eventually I realised what the author was trying to do, and I was glad I stuck with it.
A (retired?) doctor (we know he is 60 plus and a widower) called Geoffrey Braithwaite sets out to tell us what he has found so far in his obsessive researches into the nineteenth century writer Gustave Flaubert. Is he writing a biography? Maybe he wants to do more than that as he digresses into his own philosophies on life, art and (for heaven's sake) literary criticism. In doing so, he tells us something about his own life, his wife Helen and why the parrot is so important.
Occasionally hilarious, ("Not sufficient study, to my mind, has been made of the pets which were kept at (Flaubert's home) Croisset"), sometimes baffling (a section on the study of coincidence and irony) and often philosophical (quoting Flaubert: "The whole dream of democracy is to raise the proletariat to the level of stupidity attained by the bourgeoise").
So I wont pretend that I understood everything in the book, but Barnes' writing is always clever and fun. It is actually one of the most unbelievable books I have ever read, completely original in the mix of fact and fiction.
The book starts with a Contents page. There part 14 is called "Examination Paper". You may want to head off to take a degree in English and Philosophy before trying your luck. So in the spirit of the author's test, the remainder of this review is my own set of questions:
1. "Orchidaceous Romanticism at one end (of the century) and gnomic symbolism at the other". EXPLAIN. (Top marks if the examiner understands your answer).
2. "The past is autobiographical fiction pretending to be a parliamentary report". WITTY OR NOT?
3. The author describes ten fictional devices that should be banned from novels. AGREE OR DISAGREE WITH EACH. WHICH ARE THE FUNNIEST.
4. "The past is a distant receding coastline, and we are all in the same boat". THE AUTHOR HAS OTHER THINGS TO SAY ABOUT THE PAST. THREE EXAMPLES PLEASE.
5. Geoffrey Braithwaite tells us "I live in Essex, most characterless and therefore most acceptable of the Home Counties". DESCRIBE WHY YOUR COUNTY SHOULD BE INCLUDED. IF YOU LIVE IN ESSEX, HARD LUCK.
6. "Philoprogenitive". MEANING WHAT?
7. The author uses fifteen very different and original parts to the book as listed under Contents. WHICH WORKED AND WHICH DIDNT.
8. "Gustave's preferred form of travel was to lie on a divan and have the scenery carried past him". WAS THIS QUOTATION FROM HIS "FRIEND" DUCAMP THE FUNNIEST LINE OR ARE THERE OTHERS.
9. What quotation from Flaubert's books, letters or diary has inspired your greatest admiration or disgust. DISCUSS
10. It would have been better to read the last part first. AGREE OR DISAGREE.
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