Rating: 
Summary: Funny, sexy and well written
Review: "He lies like an eye-witness" Russian saying. This quote appears on the frontispiece of this enjoyable novel. The opening words of the novel are:" My name is Stuart, and I remember everything." So I, dear reader, was sucked in straight away. It's a first person narrative from the point of view of the three main characters (the eternal triangle?) Gillian, Stuart and Oliver. If you are familiar with the Japanese film masterpiece RASHOMON you will be familiar with the premise. This book will make your day a little bit brighter. Delicious and sympathetic humour.
Rating: 
Summary: Never talk to strangers
Review: ...Anyway, not going into details, I think this book is an absolute linguistic feast. It is very easy to write in different jargons to make the impression that many people are speaking; but it is very often [incorrect]. With Barnes, we see absolutely every character in the story alive, including short comments by the flower girl or Gallic wisdom of Gillian's mother. This is sooo difficult to render in translation faithfully... The sequel to the book, "Love, etc.", continues in the same vein, but it's much darker. Which it should be. And one more thing: some reviewers compared "Talking It Over" with Truffault's "Jules et Jim". I wonder if they saw the movie. Apart from the fact that there is a "love triangle" (where isn't?), there are no similiarities whatsoever. I think they just fell into the trap Mr. Barnes had set for them by mentioning the film in the book.
Rating:
Summary: read this book!!
Review: Although i was forced to read this book i am so very glad i was. It's clever, funny and easy to read. Barnes is now my favourite writer and i can't get enough of his books but this remains a favourite.
Rating:
Summary: A great read
Review: Barnes was criticised when this book was published for using a gimmick, and for being lightweight reading. The criticism is totally unfounded - this really is a quality book. It is a classic menage a trois, told in the first person by all three characters. The different views of identical events is entertaining and sometimes hilarious, and the love story will be familiar to everyone. The characters are very real and you have met all of them (or at least parts of all of them) in your real life, and this gives the book real resonance. I have read it three times (its extremely rare for me to read any book more than once), and it is easy to open a page at random and read a few pages. Its impossible to read this book without smiling. Highly recommended!
Rating: 
Summary: Tries Too Hard
Review: In the past I've read and loved many of Julian Barnes's books. His fiction can be fun, lighthearted and a joy to read. I was really surprised to find that I didn't like "Talking It Over." To begin with, I didn't like the three main characters. They were all people whose reasons for doing what they did were as disgusting as their personalities and as fragile as their egos. In this love triangle, everyone was certaily deserving of everyone else, i.e., everyone was deserving of nothing. Second, all through the book it seems as though Barnes was simply "trying too hard" to be witty, trying too hard to be sparkling, trying too hard to be insightful. The result is that the whole book, from the first page to the last, has a very forced quality about it. Third, even though Barnes seemed to be "trying too hard," at the same time he seemed to be reining himself in. While this book might have been hilarious had Barnes allowed his imagination to send it "over the top," it feels instead so carefully controlled and modulated that we're left with nothing but very ordinary people with very ordinary feelings and a stuation that, in this book, at least, is reduced to the ordinary as well. (If I wanted "reality" and "ordinary" I would have read a newspaper. When I'm reading Barnes, I expect something more.) Three people caught in the absurd situation Barnes lays out would surely have the most absurd and outlandish thought processes. Not letting his imagination send them over the top was, I think, Barnes's biggest mistake and the downfall of this book. Anyone who's had even one creative writing class (and many who haven't) have heard the old adage, "show, don't tell." In this book, Barnes chooses to break that rule and have his characters "tell" the story to an unseen narrator. While I've heard many people say this choice made the book seem "too contrived," I liked it and thought it would have worked extraordinarily well had Barnes only given his imagination free rein. I can't say I really enjoyed reading this book. It's the kind of thing I'd choose to read on a plane trip, i.e., something that doesn't require much concentration and something I won't feel bad about if I forget and leave it behind. There's no dazzling wit here and there's no deep insight, either. Just three boring people dealing with a situation I don't really care about. "Talking It Over" was a big disappointment for me. It's very, very ordinary and very, very forgettable. I did, however, purchase the sequel and I will read it sometime in the future.
Rating:
Summary: Tries Too Hard
Review: In the past I've read and loved many of Julian Barnes's books. His fiction can be fun, lighthearted and a joy to read. I was really surprised to find that I didn't like "Talking It Over." To begin with, I didn't like the three main characters. They were all people whose reasons for doing what they did were as disgusting as their personalities and as fragile as their egos. In this love triangle, everyone was certaily deserving of everyone else, i.e., everyone was deserving of nothing. Second, all through the book it seems as though Barnes was simply "trying too hard" to be witty, trying too hard to be sparkling, trying too hard to be insightful. The result is that the whole book, from the first page to the last, has a very forced quality about it. Third, even though Barnes seemed to be "trying too hard," at the same time he seemed to be reining himself in. While this book might have been hilarious had Barnes allowed his imagination to send it "over the top," it feels instead so carefully controlled and modulated that we're left with nothing but very ordinary people with very ordinary feelings and a stuation that, in this book, at least, is reduced to the ordinary as well. (If I wanted "reality" and "ordinary" I would have read a newspaper. When I'm reading Barnes, I expect something more.) Three people caught in the absurd situation Barnes lays out would surely have the most absurd and outlandish thought processes. Not letting his imagination send them over the top was, I think, Barnes's biggest mistake and the downfall of this book. Anyone who's had even one creative writing class (and many who haven't) have heard the old adage, "show, don't tell." In this book, Barnes chooses to break that rule and have his characters "tell" the story to an unseen narrator. While I've heard many people say this choice made the book seem "too contrived," I liked it and thought it would have worked extraordinarily well had Barnes only given his imagination free rein. I can't say I really enjoyed reading this book. It's the kind of thing I'd choose to read on a plane trip, i.e., something that doesn't require much concentration and something I won't feel bad about if I forget and leave it behind. There's no dazzling wit here and there's no deep insight, either. Just three boring people dealing with a situation I don't really care about. "Talking It Over" was a big disappointment for me. It's very, very ordinary and very, very forgettable. I did, however, purchase the sequel and I will read it sometime in the future.
Rating:
Summary: What Goes Around Comes Around...
Review: It is True there are only three characters in all the book but it does not bore you for a minute. The trio best friends that can't be seperated, but a quick change happens when two of them get married and the third Oliver discovers the most important thing in his life at their wedding day. The style of writing is fantastic, the black humor is just so amazing, it is English humor but oh well it is very well presented. Barnes made the simply written book be a real classic, just by having each character tell the story the way he sees it, each ones thoughts are put out so bluntly, and no mistakes in understanding are allowed. How a small thing one day can change a life forever, how demanding and different people can be no matter how much they feel they know each other, and how essential consistent communication is no matter how much time passes by. Never take things for granted, keep the effort coming all the time... A wonderful book to read, looking forward to reading more of Barnes works..
Rating:
Summary: Style and the rumour make it excellent
Review: Once, so the tale goes, a marriage was broken when the woman took off with their mutual friend. A rather common tale these days but, in this case, made more interesting when both of the men are rather renowned authors of the time. What does the voyeuristic public get? Well... Barnes' book explores some very interesting styling touches through his use of three narrators. What is new about that, you ask? Well, in this case the three know that the reader has access to all of the stories so they attempt to "set the story straight" regarding what actually happened. Yes, as in 10 1/2 Chapters, Barnes seems to enjoy with playing with the idea of what is history and exactly how objective can it be; only the reader is juxtaposed into events much like in Calvino's work. So who got the woman in the end? You'll have to read this one to find out. Who wrote the better book? I think Barnes' book is superior but you should read Amis' "The Information" to decide for yourself. And then you could look into Barnes' latest since he apparently continues the tale there.
Rating:
Summary: Style and the rumour make it excellent
Review: Once, so the tale goes, a marriage was broken when the woman took off with their mutual friend. A rather common tale these days but, in this case, made more interesting when both of the men are rather renowned authors of the time. What does the voyeuristic public get? Well... Barnes' book explores some very interesting styling touches through his use of three narrators. What is new about that, you ask? Well, in this case the three know that the reader has access to all of the stories so they attempt to "set the story straight" regarding what actually happened. Yes, as in 10 1/2 Chapters, Barnes seems to enjoy with playing with the idea of what is history and exactly how objective can it be; only the reader is juxtaposed into events much like in Calvino's work. So who got the woman in the end? You'll have to read this one to find out. Who wrote the better book? I think Barnes' book is superior but you should read Amis' "The Information" to decide for yourself. And then you could look into Barnes' latest since he apparently continues the tale there.
Rating:
Summary: Ready To Be a Confidant?
Review: Prepared or not, while you still must read, what you read is almost entirely directed to you. You are told what has happened, what your new friends think, and what they are to do. Turn the page and then be told of the effect their actions were upon another of your new acquaintances. This book almost becomes interactive. If it were to be read to you, instead of by you, you would undoubtedly answer, interrupt and question them, and then yourself for talking to those who are not there. You would likely take sides, and wish you could conspire to help the party you favor. The Author Julian Barnes places you in the midst of a triangle, albeit one with tangential appendages, and the story that transpires is only a bit less unusual than the form the book takes. The reader is expected to be the listener, provide a shoulder, and sometimes to refuse the proffered cigarette less neutrality is to be compromised. The menagerie Mr. Barnes provides as your newfound pals, range from the mundane, to the brilliantly eccentric, and when brought together form an eclectic group. The cameos played by the briefest of speakers often come under the heading "He/she lies like an eyewitness". All believe they speak the truth, but truth is relative, perspective is everything. Mr. Barnes is egalitarian as you are chosen to lend your sympathetic ear to men, women, the young and the not so young. He also offers the occasional insight from a player whose appearance doesn't even rate that of a cameo, florists as psychologists. He also takes the most familiar range of human emotion and demonstrates with an ease that is a bit disconcerting, how double edged and painful they can be, This is true whether he cuts a swath with a broadsword, or slips a stiletto from the hand of one friend to the vitals of another. Triangles are used to describe the actions between 3 individuals. Mr. Barnes uses the same shape, but the complexity of his writing requires more than one. A pyramid might result, at once the most stable of shapes, and repeatedly pointed as well. A wonderful commentator on the human condition.
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