Cross Channel

Barnes is known for having one foot in England and the other in France; in this collection he exploits that by giving all the ten stories a common "British in France" theme, from "Dragons" where 17th century Irish mercenaries are intimidating French Protestants, to "Tunnel", set on a Eurostar train from St Pancras to Paris some twenty years in the future (the Channel Tunnel was still a novelty in 1996; the link to St Pancras didn't come into use until 2007). Along the way we meet eighteenth-century Grand Tourists, Victorian railway navvies on the fringes of Mme Bovary, a lesbian couple running a Médoc vineyard in the 1890s, a Crazy Horse girl and her Tour de France cyclist boyfriend, and the sister of a Tommy buried in a Great War show more cemetery. And there are little brushes with the Surrealists and OULIPO, and with the difficulties of getting a good BBC radio signal in northern France.

All with the usual Barnesian twinkle of the eye and subtle little twist on the last page: great fun, and lots of atmosphere. show less

There were a lot of ideas I liked in here, but perhaps I prefer when Barnes follows through with them in a novel. I didn't find this collection of short stories an especially striking work of Barnes', though I like Anglo-French relations, absurd writers retreats, and Victorian lesbians who own wineries together. Of the set I probably liked the first story the best, but I'd been hoping they'd improve from there and I wasn't sure they did. Again, the writing is excellent and the topics are generally the sort of thing I'm fond of, but there was no punch-in-the-gut that I'm used to getting from reading Barnes.

I would like to talk to him in person about this book. One day.

Barnes introduces us (in passing) to an array of characters in search of memory and meaning, or at least acknowledgement, with the understanding that in the end “all that was left was a final, lonely soaring.“: 10 short stories intertwine thematically not just among themselves but also with Barnes’s longer works, particularly Flaubert’s Parrot, The Sense of an Ending, and The Only Story. The best story is Tunnel, followed by Evermore and Interference.

This loosely linked collection of stories of British experiences of France spans a variety of settings, historical periods and social classes. Barnes always writes with clarity and humour, and offers many insights. Very enjoyable.

Not sure why GoodReads has appended the author's name to the title - I wish the titles that actually appear on the book could be retained...

The rating is mostly for two stories: "Evermore" and "Tunnel." The others are strong. These two are exceptional.

Julian Barnes is quite the author! Some stories appealed to me more than others, but I really loved how he ended the book.

pearls