Talking It Over - Julian Barnes
I first read Talking It Over when I was about 19 years old, after I read A History Of The World In 10 1/2 Chapters and decided I really needed to read more Julian Barnes. I liked it at the time, but I realise now that I wasn't old enough or possessed of enough life experience to fully appreciate it.
When I was 25 I went through a bad break-up and my partner got together with my best friend of close to a decade. The three of us had spent years doing everything as a trio, and I felt hugely betrayed. I haven't spoken to them for close to 15 years - longer than we were ever actually friends to begin with, I've just realised - but I think about them regularly. They left a void in my life that has never really been filled.
Unsurprisingly, re-reading this book brought up a lot of feelings about that time in my life. It's impossible for me not to place myself in the shoes of Stuart here, and I had a very strong reaction to the way he's portrayed. I feel like he's owed a little more grace and understanding as he deals with everything that's happening to him.
None of the characters here is drawn particularly sympathetically, but that's always been a strength of Barnes' writing. He's very good at showing people as they really are, warts and all, and he nails all three of our main characters to the wall here. This situation feels utterly mundane and real, and it hits harder as a result of that.
I re-read this mainly because I've only just learned about the existence of a sequel, and I wanted to refresh myself on this novel before I move on to the follow-up. I'm very curious to see what that book holds.