Tuesday 8 September 2009

the evolution of barnes, julian

key: read/unread/tried to read

metroland
weirdly read it without absorbing the plot it would seem. only remember the bit about the orange street lights (beautiful and haunting, think about it whenever im out walking at night) and the tiny betrayal bits...overall not a violent book.
before she met me
so violent but also so funny. probably the funniest. in an incredibly morbid black comedy fashion. think coldblooded.
flaubert's parrot
staring at the sun
very un barnes in that its lacking the usual themes of twisting jabbing stabbing betrayal. funny in a barnes way. and simply lovely so far.
a history of the world in 10 1/2 chapters
talking it over
oh joy. stuart, gillian and oliver. fucked up. real. oozing betrayal.
the porcupine
letters from london
cross channel
england, england
love, etc
yippieyay. again. stuart, gillian and oliver. fucked up. real. oozing more betrayal.
something to declare
in the land of pain (translation)
the pedant in the kitchen
the lemon table
arthur & george
nothing to be frightened of

wouldve thought he wrote staring at the sun after talking it over/love, etc. after having got the betrayal after his system. i think he got the violence out with before she met me. then got zen. then something horrible happened...
ok its not that zen (staring at the sun) just realised its largely about suicide. hmm should i be worried that my brain interpreted that as zen. probably. but im not.

6 comments:

Rusalochka said...

I've never read anything by him.

pavithra muthalagan said...

you should :) talking it over and love etc go together in case ur planning to read one of them :) but he will dent your faith in the world and make u cynical at heart...

rchlll said...

I'm already cynical at heart so he can't ruin me. Mwoahahahahahaaaaaa!

pavithra muthalagan said...

excelllllent :) you have nothing to lose :)

Divya said...

firstly, i had no idea that he'd written so many books i hadn't read. i thot i'd only not read the new one.

exactly same street light image i have of metroland, that was the one with some shady stuff in the theatre, everyone cheating on everyone yes?

have to find the ones i haven't read.

pavithra muthalagan said...

re:metroland i only remember the bit where he gets tempted by some woman at a party...and he's all i almost cheated on you to his wife. and she's all its alright. i totally cheated on you this one time.