Play Book Tag discussion

The first paragraph of the GR description of this edition is absolutely perfect, for you might describe this in a number of ways! (refers to this edition: Flaubert's Parrot) I have seen it at WorldCat described as a literary biography > fiction. In some places it is purported to be a novel, but it's construction is unlike any novel I've ever encountered. Most of the chapters are written in the first person by one George Braithwaite, an aging Flaubert scholar. The "novel" opens with Braithwaite trying to see the actual parrot Flaubert used while writing his Un coeur simple (Barnes uses the French; a Simple Heart in English) and finds there are two museums who claim to have the very parrot. Parrots - or rather the word parrot - make occasional appearances throughout.

Of course there is much of Flaubert here. The second chapter is a chronology. Even that is quirky. There is the standard chronology of birth, school, publishing history, death. That is followed by a chronology of the people in Flaubert's life that he lost. The third chronology is excerpts of Flaubert's writing, mostly from his letters. He was a great letter writer. Another chapter speculates on what happened to the letters he must have written to his niece's governess.

Barnes is funny, playful. I think I would not have appreciated this, however, had I not read at least some of Flaubert. There are enough references to Madame Bovary, for instance, that I might not have understood some of the humor in those references.

I failed to see humor or playfulness in the one book of his I have read, Arthur & George. But I did think it a full 5 stars, and with two such now under my belt, I have added more Barnes to my wish list. I might even see if I can fit in another that I already have before this quarter's challenge ends, because they'll all fit.

I'm not familiar with Flaubert at all, not sure this is my cup of tea - as much as I enjoyed reading your review..

I really enjoyed The Sense of an Ending. This sounds great too. Thanks!

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "The first paragraph of the GR description of this edition is absolutely perfect, for you might describe this in a number of ways! (refers to this edition: Flaubert's Parrot) I have se..."

This sounds intriguing.

Great review.

I have lived many of his books but unfortunately I did not live this one. I think I was in the minority in the group reading it but I gave it 3 stars because I found some parts of it really dry.