modeste's review against another edition
4.0
4,1 ****
Wat een bijzonder en vreemd boek is me dat. De flap zegt "roman", maar het gaat toch een stuk meer de richting uit van een biografie annex literaire kritiek, als je het mij vraagt (en dat doe je want je leest mijn review ;-)). De zoektocht naar de "echte" papegaai die model stond in een van de verhalen doet denken aan het genre beoefend door pakweg Frank Westerman in "El Negro en ik" of Reinier Spreen in "Monument voor de Quagga". Flaubert gelezen hebben, zou ongetwijfeld geholpen hebben maar zelfs zonder die krachtinspanning is het boek zéér onderhoudend. Barnes is altijd al l een van mijn favorieten geweest ("Een geschiedenis van de wereld in 10 1/2e hoofdstuk" v *****" kan ik bijvoorbeeld bijzonder warm aanbevelen)
In elk geval werd ik er nog eens flink aan herinnerd dat ik moet voortmaken met Bart van Loo's Frankrijktrilogie om eens na te gaan wat hij allemaal over de stoïcijnse, anti-bourgeois, misantrope Flaubert vindt. Helaas gaan er maar 24 uur in één dag en kunnen ze bovendien niet alle aan lezen gespendeerd worden.
Eindigen doe ik met een citaat van Gustave: "Het is beter je oude dag te verspillen, dan er helemaal niks mee te doen". So reading it is and will be !
Wat een bijzonder en vreemd boek is me dat. De flap zegt "roman", maar het gaat toch een stuk meer de richting uit van een biografie annex literaire kritiek, als je het mij vraagt (en dat doe je want je leest mijn review ;-)). De zoektocht naar de "echte" papegaai die model stond in een van de verhalen doet denken aan het genre beoefend door pakweg Frank Westerman in "El Negro en ik" of Reinier Spreen in "Monument voor de Quagga". Flaubert gelezen hebben, zou ongetwijfeld geholpen hebben maar zelfs zonder die krachtinspanning is het boek zéér onderhoudend. Barnes is altijd al l een van mijn favorieten geweest ("Een geschiedenis van de wereld in 10 1/2e hoofdstuk" v *****" kan ik bijvoorbeeld bijzonder warm aanbevelen)
In elk geval werd ik er nog eens flink aan herinnerd dat ik moet voortmaken met Bart van Loo's Frankrijktrilogie om eens na te gaan wat hij allemaal over de stoïcijnse, anti-bourgeois, misantrope Flaubert vindt. Helaas gaan er maar 24 uur in één dag en kunnen ze bovendien niet alle aan lezen gespendeerd worden.
Eindigen doe ik met een citaat van Gustave: "Het is beter je oude dag te verspillen, dan er helemaal niks mee te doen". So reading it is and will be !
in_vain's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
shuzhens's review
2.0
The first few chapters were really engaging, and made me hope for a Possession-esque storyline. Sadly this was not to be. Extremely witty and creative writing but for me this just could not make up for the sheer tedium of the doctor's musings.
littlebookmunchkin's review
1.0
No wonder it took me this long to finish this book. I’m glad to say that I have read it, if it weren’t for uni I never would have picked it up. But then I again, if it weren’t for uni I could’ve read something I actually might enjoyed!
andrew_russell's review against another edition
4.0
Julian Barnes' 1984 novel, Flaubert's Parrot, is one of his best known. Booker shortlisted, it relates the obsessive research of retired doctor, turned amateur literary academic Geoffrey Braithwaite, into the life of Gustave Flaubert. The fulcrum around which Barnes' work pivots is Braithwaite's discovery of two different stuffed parrots, each in different locations in Rouen. Their caretakers each also claim that their stuffed parrot is that which was loaned to Flaubert whilst he wrote Un Couer de Simple.
It's incredibly hard to pigeonhole this work, as it defies many common novelistic traits. There is next to no central plot and the same could equally be said regarding characters. Barnes' best works though, tend to use seemingly banal situations to force the reader to question their own thoughts and beliefs in an interesting fashion and this is no exception. The eponymous parrot really plays a minor role in the book, which is why it is described earlier in this review as a fulcrum, around which other aspects of the novel pivot. And they pivot beautifully and eloquently.
Braithwaite sees the parrot almost as a metaphor for the author themselves. Flaubert himself believed that the author should attempt to leave next to no trace of themselves in their work; that the novel should not be used to trumpet their political and personal beliefs, for example. This is an interesting belief to hold but one that is certainly rarely seen in practice, particularly on the modern literary scene.
More interestingly Flaubert's Parrot subverts our faith in what we believe to be true, particularly with regard to history. Reminiscent of the more recent work of Laurent Binet's HhHh, it employs meta-fiction as a literary device in order to achieve this. At one point in the novel, Braithwaite relates the example of Flaubert's description of the rising sun as resembling 'redcurrant jam' to ask the question of whether we have any firm concept of what exact hue redcurrant jam might have had in the nineteenth century and how this may have changed since.
Flaubert's Parrot is also extremely varied in style. One chapter titled Braithwaite's Dictionary of Accepted Ideas lists and defines in alphabetical order the main people, places and themes of Flaubert's life. Another chapter relates, using a first-person narrative from her point of view, the story of Louise Colet. Through all of these varied, shifting styles, we build a picture of who Flaubert was, what his thoughts and beliefs, as well as his flaws were. Who he loved, who loved him, what his vices were, his thoughts on writing and the places to which he travelled, who he trusted and who he despised. In Barnes's short novel he manages, simply through pure authorial prowess to allow the reader access to Flaubert's world.
So what didn't I like so much? There isn't a lot to answer this question with but the novel was slightly slow for my taste. I honestly think that's it. That's what held this back from being a firm favourite but it's still absolutely a book that was a valuable read and one that I would recommend to anyone with an interest in modern literary fiction.
It's incredibly hard to pigeonhole this work, as it defies many common novelistic traits. There is next to no central plot and the same could equally be said regarding characters. Barnes' best works though, tend to use seemingly banal situations to force the reader to question their own thoughts and beliefs in an interesting fashion and this is no exception. The eponymous parrot really plays a minor role in the book, which is why it is described earlier in this review as a fulcrum, around which other aspects of the novel pivot. And they pivot beautifully and eloquently.
Braithwaite sees the parrot almost as a metaphor for the author themselves. Flaubert himself believed that the author should attempt to leave next to no trace of themselves in their work; that the novel should not be used to trumpet their political and personal beliefs, for example. This is an interesting belief to hold but one that is certainly rarely seen in practice, particularly on the modern literary scene.
More interestingly Flaubert's Parrot subverts our faith in what we believe to be true, particularly with regard to history. Reminiscent of the more recent work of Laurent Binet's HhHh, it employs meta-fiction as a literary device in order to achieve this. At one point in the novel, Braithwaite relates the example of Flaubert's description of the rising sun as resembling 'redcurrant jam' to ask the question of whether we have any firm concept of what exact hue redcurrant jam might have had in the nineteenth century and how this may have changed since.
Flaubert's Parrot is also extremely varied in style. One chapter titled Braithwaite's Dictionary of Accepted Ideas lists and defines in alphabetical order the main people, places and themes of Flaubert's life. Another chapter relates, using a first-person narrative from her point of view, the story of Louise Colet. Through all of these varied, shifting styles, we build a picture of who Flaubert was, what his thoughts and beliefs, as well as his flaws were. Who he loved, who loved him, what his vices were, his thoughts on writing and the places to which he travelled, who he trusted and who he despised. In Barnes's short novel he manages, simply through pure authorial prowess to allow the reader access to Flaubert's world.
So what didn't I like so much? There isn't a lot to answer this question with but the novel was slightly slow for my taste. I honestly think that's it. That's what held this back from being a firm favourite but it's still absolutely a book that was a valuable read and one that I would recommend to anyone with an interest in modern literary fiction.
monikapuff's review
4.0
Funny, enticing, weird and pretty good novel. I had no idea what to expect from it, but I was not disappointed. Most of the novel is ironical, making fun of anything and everything, but it was really deep sometimes, you get some profound sentence out of the blue once in a while.
Barnes is sarcastic little shit, like my old friend Shakespeare, but this is some next level sarcasm.
Also, Pure Story made me cry.
P.S. Braithwaite is one of us, a giant fangirl, I mean fanboy, that little creep xD
Barnes is sarcastic little shit, like my old friend Shakespeare, but this is some next level sarcasm.
Also, Pure Story made me cry.
P.S. Braithwaite is one of us, a giant fangirl, I mean fanboy, that little creep xD
nick_jenkins's review
3.0
Clever-clever rather than clever; reminds me of Alain de Botton’s book in Proust. Barnes seems an unlikeable man (if he is going to transgress the death of the author, turnabout’s fair play). I admire the vigor of his prose, but two of the features which lend him that vigor are repetition and italics. Their presence (in this and The Sense of an Ending) feel like authorial condescension to me—a sign that the writer believes that most of his interactions are with intellectual inferiors. He has a traditional English misogynist’s rancor toward “lady critics,” and reveals a nasty undercurrent of homophobia.
rltinha's review against another edition
4.0
À boa moda do Vila-Matas, Julian Barnes concede ao leitor este belíssimo «sortido literário», quase exclusivamente com itens apetitosos, daqueles revestidos com pratas, de formas e texturas mais satisfatórias, com não mais de um par de capítulos bolacha seca/sem graça, migalhosa ou então «mole, toda mole».
E esta metáfora da caixa de sortido de bolachas foi feliz porque aos apreciadores de livros sobre livros, àqueles cuja postura de culto literário não se integre nas seriedades prosaicas ou, pior, nas sorumbáticas vaidades armadas ao pingarelho, aos que lêem com e por prazer, que aprendem com a graça de saber que não aprenderão tudo, e que o fazem sem se esquecerem da diversão no acto leitor, a esses o sortido fornece a satisfação que é pegar nos piores itens e vesti-los com as pratas que envolviam os melhores. Até os despojos indesejados, com a ousadia palerma e satisfeita de um pequeno prevaricador, ficam revestidos de promessa.
E esta metáfora da caixa de sortido de bolachas foi feliz porque aos apreciadores de livros sobre livros, àqueles cuja postura de culto literário não se integre nas seriedades prosaicas ou, pior, nas sorumbáticas vaidades armadas ao pingarelho, aos que lêem com e por prazer, que aprendem com a graça de saber que não aprenderão tudo, e que o fazem sem se esquecerem da diversão no acto leitor, a esses o sortido fornece a satisfação que é pegar nos piores itens e vesti-los com as pratas que envolviam os melhores. Até os despojos indesejados, com a ousadia palerma e satisfeita de um pequeno prevaricador, ficam revestidos de promessa.