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A review by ameliasbooks
Before She Met Me by Julian Barnes
3.0
3.5
This was I re-read for me and the first time I read it was before goodreads, but I might have given it three stars and my tendency now is towards four stars.
It is Julian Barnes second published novel, but you can already find the main themes of his work in there: memory, human emotions, time.
It is a very dark story and I certainly understand why it isn't for everybody. But I found that Barnes did a very good job in only describing and never defending any human behaviour that goes totally wrong. You could maybe argue that he as a male author taking sides for his male protagonists or is even asking for understanding, because as a human you can't defend yourself against your feelings. But in my opinion he does quite the opposite, but in a really felicitious way, not in black in white and steamroller tactics.
You can already see what kind of author Julian Barnes will be later on, but because I know of the quality of his later works, my ranking is a bit lower here.
This was I re-read for me and the first time I read it was before goodreads, but I might have given it three stars and my tendency now is towards four stars.
It is Julian Barnes second published novel, but you can already find the main themes of his work in there: memory, human emotions, time.
It is a very dark story and I certainly understand why it isn't for everybody. But I found that Barnes did a very good job in only describing and never defending any human behaviour that goes totally wrong. You could maybe argue that he as a male author taking sides for his male protagonists or is even asking for understanding, because as a human you can't defend yourself against your feelings. But in my opinion he does quite the opposite, but in a really felicitious way, not in black in white and steamroller tactics.
You can already see what kind of author Julian Barnes will be later on, but because I know of the quality of his later works, my ranking is a bit lower here.