Christopher and Toni found in each other the perfect companion for that universal adolescent pastime: smirking at the world as you find it. In between training as flaneurs and the grind of school they cast a cynical eye over their various dislikes: parents with their lives of spotless emptiness, Third Division (North) football teams, God, commuters and girls, and the inhabitants of Metroland, the strip of suburban dormitory Christopher calls home. Longing for real life to begin, we follow Christopher to Paris in time for les evenements of 1968, only to miss it all in a haze of sex, French theatre and first love, leading, to Toni's disappointment, back to Metroland.
--This text refers to the
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Sixteen-year-old suburbanite Chris Lloyd and his mate Toni spend their free time wishing they were French, making up stories about strangers, and pretending to be flâneurs. When they grow up they'd like to be "artists-in-residence at a nudist colony." If youthful voyeurism figures heavily in their everyday lives, so, too, do the pleasures of analogy, metaphor, and deliberate misprision. Sauntering into one store that dares to call itself MAN SHOP, Toni demands: "One man and two small boys, please."
Julian Barnes could probably fill several books with these boys' clever misadventures, but in his first novel he attempts something more daring--the curve from youthful scorn to adult contentment. In 1968, when Chris goes off to Paris, he misses the May événements but manages, more importantly, to fall in love and learn the pleasures of openness: "The key to Annick's candour was that there was no key. It was like the atom bomb: the secret is that there is no secret." The final section finds Chris back in suburbia, married, with children and a mortgage, and slowly accepting the surprise that happiness isn't boring. "It's certainly ironic to be back in Metroland. As a boy, what would I have called it: le syphilis de l'âme, or something like that, I dare say. But isn't part of growing up being able to ride irony without being thrown?" Far from renouncing the joys of language, this novel wittily celebrates honest communication. --Kerry Fried --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Review
If all works of fiction were as thoughtful, as subtle, as well constructed and as funny as Metroland there would be no more talk of the death of the novel New Statesman It's one of the best accounts of clever English schoolboyhood I've read Times Educational Supplement Irony and imagery are deployed with a finesse even Flaubert wouldn't wince at...consumately elegant Sunday Times
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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More About the Author
Julian Barnes is the author of nine novels, including Metroland, Flaubert's Parrot, A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters, England, England and Arthur and George, and two collections of short stories, Cross Channel and The Lemon Table.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A book that is difficult to describe....,
This review is from: Metroland (Paperback)
Metroland is the sort of book that, frankly, most people will not like (or even finish). However, those who do like the book will enjoy it a great deal. The theme is one that has been explored by almost every male author of note: A young man is attempting to sort out his own values while asking himself if he is living his life properly. This is, of course, a serious topic. Because of the gravity of the subject, many writers seem to cave in to the temptation to go overboard and the resulting work becomes hopelessly melodramatic. Julian Barnes, however, has avoided the cliches of this sub-genre by mocking the main character's periodic self-absorbtion. The result is a protagonist that the reader can truly care about and (ultimately) admire. Metroland's dialog is witty, and the narrative is very clever. The chapter dealing with Chris's attempts to impress his new French girlfriend are so realistic that they must be autobiographical. Metroland would be best enjoyed in small bites, a chapter or two at a time at the end of the day. You might hate this book, and I honestly wouldn't blame you, but I loved it.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Why Metroland Has Become My Bible,
By A Customer
This review is from: Metroland (Paperback)
Metroland is undoubtedly on my top 10 list for life. The story is, above all else, touchingly honest. Vivid pictures are painted with the subtlest of language. The writing gives keen insight into the head of a young boy and his passage into adulthood.There is nothing more satisfying than when you read a book that is written as if it could have come from your own head... The absurdity and comedy of some of the conversations will make you laugh as you think about times in your own life when things don't have to be mature and sensical - you just say them, and magically, everyone understands. The scenes in the museum where the two main characters are observing peoples' minute reactions to artwork is my absolute favorite. The passage describing how art is the most important thing in life, and how people, simply by viewing art, are in some way improved, is in my wallet and I make sure to show it to everyone I know. I have read Talking It Over, also by Barnes, and enjoyed it, but Metroland stands alone because it is so completely and honestly genuine. kidTiger
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
passage of time,
By
This review is from: Metroland (Paperback)
Metroland is a very intimate and enchanting novel written in the first person. The reader is drawn into Chris, the narrator's, world at the very outset and from that point on, we are taken on a journey through life, time and age.We start out in the mind of a 16 year old boy, feeling all his hopes and ideals alongside him, sharing his philosophies and questions with his closest friends in a haven of teenage, mutual, intellectual exchange. Then comes Paris, May '68. Chris has matured. We sense that he has begun to live, and has become increasingly uncertain of how the realities of life fit in with his childhood ideals. As the work draw slowly to a close the narrator is experiencing "real" life to the full; the marriage, the mortgage and the child, and yet the need to question seems to have been appeased. We now sense his readiness to live life day by day, without too much forward-thinking. With age, he no longer really asks why things happen, he merely accepts. The ageing process we feel in the novel is fascinating, in particular when we consider the relationship between the two childhood "best friends", Chris and Toni. As children they seem to parralel so closely, with similar beliefs and concerns, yet as time passes their priorities and goals move in conflicting directions. Chris adapted his ideals to reality. Toni, on the other hand, tried to live by his childhood ideals as an adult, torturing himself in the process in the hopes of being true to his past self and his broken dreams. Some of us mature and develop and some are children forever ....who is happier?
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