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A review by caliesha
Elizabeth Finch by Julian Barnes
4.0
She dealt in truths not from previous generations but from previous eras, truths she kept alive but which others had abandoned.
Devoured the first third of this under a tree while procrastinating my history of sexuality paper. The rest was slower, not unenjoyable perse, but lacking the drive and curiosity that characterized part one. Selfishly, I appreciated the reflections on Julian the Apostate (J, dead at 31) though plot-wise, I see how jarring part two must appear. It went on slightly too long and with too much distance from the main narrative. This made integrating back into Neil's life in part three challenging; the reader has lost their footing, and the jumps in time are all the more apparent. Coming out of Neil's part two essay, the EF quotes in part three lose their candidness. Part of the charm in these quotes, initially, is their esotericism. Removing this mystery (as Neil has done through his part two essay) makes EF feel flat and somewhat kitschy. The ending could have packed a greater punch too. If I were Barnes, I would have ended the story two pages earlier than he did, with the third and final iteration of his "getting our history wrong" bit. I am not Barnes, fortunately, and unfortunately, and therefore the way the story stands, it's four stars from me.
Devoured the first third of this under a tree while procrastinating my history of sexuality paper. The rest was slower, not unenjoyable perse, but lacking the drive and curiosity that characterized part one. Selfishly, I appreciated the reflections on Julian the Apostate (J, dead at 31) though plot-wise, I see how jarring part two must appear. It went on slightly too long and with too much distance from the main narrative. This made integrating back into Neil's life in part three challenging; the reader has lost their footing, and the jumps in time are all the more apparent. Coming out of Neil's part two essay, the EF quotes in part three lose their candidness. Part of the charm in these quotes, initially, is their esotericism. Removing this mystery (as Neil has done through his part two essay) makes EF feel flat and somewhat kitschy. The ending could have packed a greater punch too. If I were Barnes, I would have ended the story two pages earlier than he did, with the third and final iteration of his "getting our history wrong" bit. I am not Barnes, fortunately, and unfortunately, and therefore the way the story stands, it's four stars from me.