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Dec 26, 2011

Eric rated it:

Flaubert’s Parrot is a witty essay on Flaubert, thinly battered in fiction. The fictional story, of retired physician and Flaubert amateur Geoffrey Braithwaite alone with memories of his adulterous suicide wife (her name is Ellen, not Emma), I found weak and boring. But I kept with it because Braithwaite approximates my favorite kind of first-person narrator: the speculative dreamer, the casual critic; the isolated ideal mind—a phrase I’ve heard—at home in all history. There’s Ishmael, Humbert, More...

6 comments like (7 people liked it)

Aug 21, 2007

steve ross rated it:

Postmodern: replete with literary metafiction, ordered lists, chronologies, conscious ironies, and other bullshit. All of this is executed quite well, though. Pleasing to the forebrain.

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

May 17, 2011

Paul rated it:

This was a giant gimmick of a novel and I thought the gimmick just worked so well. I understand some readers disagree. I'm not going to say that them's fightin' words and I'm going to have to ask you to step outside. I'm just annoyingly, irritatingly going to tell you that I thought this was like a gloved hand on the back of your neck which inches its way round to your windpipe. What happens is that a dull kind of guy mooches about France collecting biographical data about the sainted Flaubert, More...

21 comments like (11 people liked it)

Dec 28, 2011

Jacqueline rated it:

This is an interesting study on a character's obsession with Flaubert, and a writer's obsession with writing fiction. There were moments that felt as if the story was rambling in circles, and other moments where Barnes' storytelling rung true. It's an interesting subject: the idea of someone trying to capture the essence of a novelist. However, it bordered on gushing at parts, which obscured the good meat of the book: Brathwaithe's detective work.

A writer's group friend passed this More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Feb 04, 2008

R. rated it:

Flaubert's Parrot. What a grand and gentle tour! The chapter on grief, "Pure Story", was so note perfect that it could've been a song. It could have been...a song.

Earlier pre-review:
What did I learned from this book? I learn to buy books for $2.99. What a deal. And then approached by a lady in the parking lot asking me if I had a gas can. Checked. No, I don't. "There's an ACE Hardware." "Do you have any money for a gas can? They won't le More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 10, 2009

Teresa rated it:

An entertaining, interesting book. Not only is Barnes clever, he's chuckle-out loud funny (see the section on the types of books the narrator thinks should not be written) in some places; and the chapter called "Pure Story" is both beautifully written and heartbreaking.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 20, 2011

Joselito rated it:

Gustave Flaubert died in 1880. But this did not prevent Julian Barnes from falling in love with him. Barnes' obsession with him, which only a lover can suffer from, resulted to this book which was first published in 1984, almost a century after the author passed away impoverished, lonely, exhausted and not having finished his swan song, "Bouvard et Pecuchet" (despite its incompleteness it was still good enough to be included in the 1001 list).

Any keen follower of my goodrea More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Feb 13, 2010

Jay rated it:

Lovely work (Barnes' career-maker), and a kind of warm-up for the Alain de Botton oeuvre: a nice frame story, interesting factoids, and great material about Flaubert, our lives as readers, and the training it took to put together "Madame Bovary." When Flaubert and his friend Maxime du Camp hiked to the top of an Egyptian pyramid, they found the visiting card for a "Monsueir Humbert, Frotteur." Here's Barnes:

"If we are feeling interpretative, we can look furth More...

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Jul 30, 2010

F.R. rated it:

This is an odd book. It’s not really a biography, but there’s so much biography in it I’m not sure it could really be counted as a fictional novel either. So what is it then? An Appreciation? A Musing? Yes, I’m going to go with that last one. This is that somewhat rare literary breed – “a Musing’ on a theme or subject.

A doctor wanders in and around Flambeau’s life and work, and how they intersect with his own life gradually becomes apparent.

It’s a book which manages to b More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 02, 2011

Tia rated it:

I love the way Julian Barnes pieces together a story. It reminds me of a less absurd Kenneth Koch. This is what I mean:

In the first pages of his play, "Edward & Christine," Koch tries to explain the seemingly bizarre movement of scenes, from one time/place to another clear across the charts, with the main characters sometimes playing themselves, sometimes "in the guise of other characters." He says, "This movement from scene to scene is not meant to be ironic.. More...

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Jan 29, 2012

Ryan rated it:

A book about books, the people that love them, their distances from "life." Humorous, clever, tender - the only book I've read by Barnes, but his touch here is so very light. Literary constructions that in other hands could come off as pointless exercises in the meta are the warp of the stories fabric. "Delightful" isn't a word I use under almost any circumstance, but it fits. Perhaps examples give a better idea?

On a critic that picks out Flaubert's variable descrip More...

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Dec 16, 2011

Shovelmonkey1 rated it:

I read this book on the train. Originally this was done out of necessity as I was commuting and needed something to stare at so as to avoid the blank eyed gaze of the other commuter drones as they also lumbered too and from a number of non-descript towns in the north in order to earn their daily crust. Many of them look like zombies.. only the lack of meaty-decay smell informs you that, no, they are in fact still living and allegedly sentient. Sometimes I worry about becoming a commuter zombie ( More...

39 comments like (13 people liked it)

Aug 18, 2011

janet rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Nov 20, 2011

Gan rated it:

This is a book I abandoned after I trudged through the first 20 pages and then gave up some years ago. I had bought it after having thoroughly enjoyed Julian Barnes’ A History of the World in 10.5 chapters’. I have since read his other books and found it strange why I had abandoned this particular book in my first attempt. And now that I had finished it, I have to say it will be a book that deserves a 2nd and even a 3rd reading. I think some prior knowledge of who Gustave Flaubert is (Googling More...

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Sep 02, 2009

John rated it:

If you have at least read Madame Bovary, the Flaubert quotes and anecdotes alone (aside from Barnes' writing) are worthwhile. Barnes' postmodern gimmickry is both the strength and the weakness of the book. The narration - from the perspective of an obsessed, amateur Flaubert scholar - is clever, but often painfully unfunny. Even if Barnes had intended to poke fun at such failed attempts at humor, I wouldn't exactly agree with the NY Times reviewer who called this a "high literary entertai More...

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Dec 16, 2009

masha rated it:

it's like a pleasant conversation with an interesting person. The book can be very literary (as in analyzed as a post modern novel with a literary mystery bla bla) but it is also just a really great read. It's not necessary but it can make the story better if you have read Flaubert.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 06, 2010

Brad rated it:

Variously described as "metafiction" or an "anti-novel," this unusual book, disguised as a memoir, is in truth an abbreviated biography of Gustave Flaubert.

The book pretends to be the first-hand account of a Flaubert hobbyist's investigation to identify which of two stuffed parrots now on display in Rouen is the parrot that Flaubert actually had on his desk as he wrote one of his greatest works.

Mixing fiction and biography, Barnes addresses many of the con More...

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Sep 04, 2009

Mommalibrarian rated it:

Took me a while to get into this book. Started off just musings over odd bits and pieces from the author's (Flaubert) books and letters plus a few biographical facts. I would recommend it to French literature students and critics; I am neither. I guess the author is well known otherwise he would not have been allowed to publish this book. The possible audience is so small. Towards the end there was more by the author and less about Flaubert and it got better.

page 167 the young a More...

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Feb 08, 2012

Kaph rated it:

Written by a man whose last name begins with ‘B’ and classed (rather dishonestly) under the first Guardian 1000 books category of comedy, ‘Flaubert’s Parrot’ made it onto the first page of my list of essential novels. From there it managed to worm its way into my subconscious so that, without making any deliberate note of it, I recognized the title as one I must eventually read as I cast my eye about the glorious wreckage of SKOOB, the best used bookstore in London.

The blurb on the b More...

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Jul 26, 2011

Diana rated it:

Weird.....in an OK way. Possibly genius, but not enough to make me,want to read just one more chapter before going to bed.

I did like and enjoy it, I didn't love it. Conceptually very clever and due to its very reasonable length and relatively short chapters, Flaubert's Parrot did not overstay its welcome.

After finishing it, I realize it could have been a horror if not so well written. It could have been wildly pretentious, but it wasn't. Some of the vignette-style chapters we More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 08, 2009

Andreea rated it:

I've been reading through reviews/comments and see how people say they've read little Flaubert or none of his books. It's a shame, because I really think that this is a book about Flaubert and that to fully enjoy it you have to be passionate (not obsessed, I don't think Braithwaite was a monomaniac) about Flaubert's books (and having read Madame Bovary in high school doesn't count). In a way, this is the same story as in Madame Bovary, in the same way Madame Bovary tells the same story as don Qu More...

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Feb 09, 2009

Kristopher rated it:

Truly awesome - this had me laughing in places and flat-out stunned in others. Basically a narrative about a Doctor doing some amateur research into Flaubert's life, who becomes mildly interested in discovering which of four stuffed parrots is the one that inspired his famous story "A Simple Heart." But this is almost minor in the book, which is really a mash-up of many strange forms. He goes through various timelines and interpretations of Flaubert's life by other biographers, cri More...

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Aug 05, 2009

Anna rated it:

Flaubert’s Parrot is not a novel so much as it is Julian Barnes masturbating onto his favorite, tattered, and undoubtedly stained copy of Madame Bovary. This is not necessarily a bad thing. The book is solidly written, thought-provoking, unique, and sometimes hilarious. However, if you have no lustful feelings of your own toward M. Flaubert, probably best to stay away. Certainly having read Madame Bovary is a prerequisite for any appreciation of this book. I still felt underprepared having read More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 06, 2009

Jason rated it:

A tough book to sum up, i shall nonetheless do so. It is a summary of Flaubert's life, complete with a false mine of letters providing non-actual insight. It is a recounting of facts, sometimes conflicting, sometimes made up. It is the story about Geoffrey Braithwaite's life, his relationship with his wife, his joy and his sorrow. It is about his obsession with Flaubert and why, it is a conversation with the man, it is the discovering of facts. It is never quite knowing.

Told in a con More...

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Dec 16, 2009

Susannah rated it:

I can't say enough positive things about Julian Barnes. Everything I've read by him has been incredible. Also recommended: "Arthur and George," "A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters."

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 23, 2009

Paddy rated it:

Postmodern art can be fun, challenging, engrossing, or pointlessly banal. I expected this book to be more fun, but I did finish it, which I don't bother to do with books I find pointless. "Flaubert Apocrypha" was my favorite chapter. "Do the books that writers don't write matter?" I deeply appreciate the list of genres in the Chapter "Cross Channel" that our protagonist would love to ban. I'm especially with Dr. Braithwaite on these:

"There shall be More...

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Dec 03, 2011

Dave rated it:

This book has taught me that I don't take jokes well. I like humorous writing, but I find that a joke upsets a narrative. I expect what I read to be of a higher standard than what I encounter in everyday life. I expect stories to be richer, language to be more precise and, by extension, jokes to be funnier. That is a very high bar, made even higher because I have never enjoyed reading a joke as much as I have enjoyed witnessing the telling of it.

The stories in Flaubert's Parrot are wo More...

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Jun 17, 2011

Koen rated it:

Flaubert's Parrot is a biography of Gustave Flaubert, communicated through the device of a biographer's endeavour to learn more about Gustave Flaubert. If this sounds at best pretentious and at most probable very insecure, take heart: it's not as bad as it sounds.

Actually, ``it's not as bad as it sounds'' is a fair assessment of the whole book; a straightforward list of its features and conceits will leave you with the impression that it's stereotypical post-modernist dreck — tedious s More...

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Jun 10, 2011

Maxym rated it:

завдяки бажанню більше дізнатись про папугу Флобера, Джуліан Барнс розкриває і розриває, відкриває і зикриває монументальні міркування щодо літератури, творчого покликання, людської природи і в цілому сутності реальності, світу. справді, Барнс постійно перевіряє світ на міцність і смисли - чи працює той стереотип ("но я могу сказать, в чем наше превосходство перед критиками")? той чи інший міф, сюжет? це все відбувається невимушено, наче ви зайшли купити хліба, а вам ненароком розповіл More...

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Oct 25, 2011

Al rated it:

A phenomenally thorough dissection of Flaubert's life--his works, loves, family and more--set in the context of a narrative by a fictional student of all things Flaubert. The narrator's back story and own personality create an interesting vehicle for all the Flaubert information, and a point of view which brings Flaubert into sharper focus. The details are fascinating; this is a work of fiction, and certainly some of the more speculative pieces are imagined. Still, one hopes that the o More...

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