7.4 /10 1 Votes
Cover artist Fraser Taylor Publication date 1991 Pages 278 Originally published 1991 Page count 278 | 3.7/5 Goodreads Language English Media type Print, Audio & eBook ISBN 0-224-03157-0 Country United Kingdom | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Genres Fiction, Speculative fiction Publishers Jonathan Cape (UK), Alfred A. Knopf (US) Similar Julian Barnes books, Fiction books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Talking It Over is a novel by Julian Barnes published in 1991, it won the Prix Femina Étranger the following year.
It concerns a love triangle in which each of the three people concerned (and occasionally others) take it in turns to tell the story from their perspective using first person narrative. Stuart and Oliver have been best friends since school but are opposite in character, Stuart is insecure and slightly nerdy, Oliver is a flamboyant loser prone to elaborate witticisms. But it is Stuart who gets the girl, Gillian. At their wedding though, best man Oliver falls in love with her and plots to win the end-game.
The story is continued in the novel Love, etc set 10 years later.
Film Adaptation
In 1996 Talking it Over was adapted into a French film also called Love Etc. starring Yvan Attal, Charles Berling and Charlotte Gainsbourg.