| Love, Etc | |
| Author: | Julian Barnes |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Publisher: | Jonathan Cape (UK) Knopf (US) |
| Release Date: | 2000 (UK), 2001 (US) |
| Media Type: | Print, Audio & eBook |
| Pages: | 249 |
| Isbn: | 0-224-03101-5 |
| Preceded By: | Talking it Over |
Love, Etc is a novel by Julian Barnes published in 2000, although it is also the title of a French film based on his earlier novel Talking It Over.[1]
Love, Etc was written some ten years after Talking It Over and is set ten years later. In the intervening period Stuart, the protagonist, has emigrated to America, remarried, opened a restaurant, got divorced and returned to England, where he has set up a successful organic food business. Meanwhile, Oliver and Gillian and their two daughters live in a small flat in north-east London, Oliver still seeks success as a writer supported by Gillian's picture restoration. Stuart appears to have forgiven Oliver for stealing his wife and offers him a job as a driver...
The Daily Telegraph reported on reviews from several publications with a rating scale for the novel out of "Love It", "Pretty Good", "Ok", and "Rubbish": Daily Telegraph, Times, Independent, Sunday Telegraph, Observer, and Spectator reviews under "Love It" and Mail On Sunday and TLS reviews under "Pretty Good" and Guardian, Sunday Times, and Literary Review reviews under "Ok".[2] [3] [4] Globally, Complete Review saying on the consensus "No consensus, though generally quite positive. Many fairly noncommittal. Opinions even split on whether it is better or worse than its predecessor, Talking it Over. Many mention that it is dark, most don't mind that".[5]