Flaubert's Parrot

By: Julian Barnes

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Julian Barnes pens a kind of detective story, relating a cranky amateur scholar’s search for the truth about Gustave Flaubert and the obsession of this detective, whose life seems to oddly mirror those of Flaubert’s characters.

©1984 Julian Barnes (P)2021 Recorded Books

Annoying Tone

This book was written and then read in an annoying tone that made listening to this book an upsetting experience. Why so much cynicism? Why so much sarcasm? Why such a bored and jaded perspective on everything? This book is a shallow and superficial study of Flaubert’s life and work.

Strange and quirky story

This is not a perfect novel (it seemed to go on too long at times and the parts didn’t always fit together perfectly), but it’s absolutely masterful as an homage to Flaubert’s genius. Even though I was impatient with it at times (like Enid Starkey with Flaubert??) I honor it as a lucid and brilliant testimony to Flaubert’s legacy. In other words, it’s not as fun as many of the novels I read, but it will not fly out of my brain by next week- it’s inside of me, like, for example, Flaubert’s Saint Julien is. Simon Vance is an incredible reader and did the book justice. Merci, mes amis !

Why read this rather than a bio of Flaubert?

No my cup of tea. A postmodern “bio” of Gustave Flaubert that is tedious an adds no value other than mention some books of Flaubert’s did not know. Not recommended