I Understand Why Some Readers Love It, But.....................

                                            I first read this twenty years ago, when a supervisor then at my work place recommended it to me.  I did not understand all the fuss.

                                             Time and age can change things--in my case, they sure did--so while I did not love the book, I saw its literary value.  The problem is with me, I like straight driven, linear, narrative novels.  I don't like gimmicks or techniques.  One reviewer called this "the best anti-novel since Nabokov's 'Pale Fire,' " and while I long to read that, now I know what I am in for.  And, by the way, there are a  lot of references to Nabokov, "Lolita," and Humbert.

                                               "Falubert's Parrot" is less a novel, and more the fictional meanderings of a pretentious British academic named Geoffrey Braithwaite, who muses on his life and marriage, as well as Flaubert's life, the creation and fuss over "Madame Bovary," and the short story "Un Coeur Simple," from which the novel's title is derived.

                                                  What the book made me want to do most is re-read "Madame Bovary>"  I don't have a copy on hand, so I will have to settle for Madame Da Farge!  Don't you just love her?

                                                     Recommended for literary types, but even they may find its technique a bit gimmicky and pretentious.

                                                       But, then  Julian Barnes is a mixed bag.  Some of his works have been simply wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                          Alas...……………………….!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!