Discussion of the Book for July 2011
Posted by bangkokbookclub on September 12, 2011
“Arthur and George” by Julian Barnes
Though most of the group enjoyed this book, few felt they would recommend it to others, indicating that the overall feeling at the end of it was that it was an enjoyable read, but didn’t really leave any lasting impression. One person thought it was tremendously tedious and stopped reading it quite early on.
As a work of historical fiction, several members thought Barnes gave a good portrait of Arthur Conan Doyle. In contrast, most of the other characters felt somewhat insubstantial and readers were particularly interested in knowing more about the Edalji family history. Someone pointed out that as this was written in the style of a Victorian novel, ‘back story’ and psychological insight/intent of characters were not elements used by novelists, or expected by readers during that period of time. Someone else thought that one of the reasons Arthur seemed more complete than any of the other characters was that there was simply much more research material available about him.
One member specifically enjoyed “the Victorian pace of the book – it slows everything down and there’s a great attention to detail”.
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