Talking It Over cover art

Talking It Over

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Talking It Over

By: Julian Barnes
Narrated by: Steven Pacey, Alex Jennings, Clare Higgins
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Clare Higgins, Alex Jennings and Steven Pacey read Man Booker Prize-winning author Julian Barnes' 'he said, she said' novel.

Introducing Stuart, Gillian and Oliver. One by one they take their turn to speak straight out to the camera - and give their side of a contemporary love triangle. What begins as a comedy of misunderstanding slowly darkens and deepens into a compelling exploration of the quagmires of the heart.

©1991 Julian Barnes (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Heartfelt

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Metroland cover art
The Lemon Table cover art
Arthur & George cover art
Levels of Life cover art
The Noise of Time cover art
Moon Palace cover art
Mr. Vertigo cover art
Cakes and Ale cover art
Nervous Conditions cover art
The Untouchable cover art
Things We Never Said cover art
After You Left cover art

Critic reviews

“tour de force of alternating monologue…three impeccable actors, Steven Pacey, Alex Jennings, and Clare Higgins…and there isn't a false note anywhere. A wonderful performance.” ( AudioFile)
"An interplay of serious thought and dazzling wit. . . . It's moving, it's funny, it's frightening . . . fiction at its best." ( New York Times Book Review)
"A witty and provocative novel from the author of the masterpiece Flaubert's Parrot.” ( Library Journal)
All stars
Most relevant  
Really enjoyed this book, a window into the lives of ordinary people in some way. Characters which aren’t likeable but you want to hear from. Narration was excellent, like hearing a play. Lots of humour and I love Barnes way with words.
It could have done with being a little shorter is my only criticism - the Val section seemed superfluous but maybe there was some intricacy that I missed in that part. Overall, great listen.

Entertaining

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Alex Jennings was perfect but some of zee French accents were - ‘ow you say? - verging on the “gud moaning” of ‘Allo ‘Allo!! Overall, though, quite entertaining.

Quite funny in parts; strong start, weak middle, good ending.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I zipped through this. The narrators are superb and so the characters are clearly defined. I especially like novels told in this split narrator style giving you personal insight to each viewpoint. The ending, as others have said, was sudden but not unsatisfying. A neat conclusion to such destructive relationships would have been tidy and artificial.

a good read

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I would make it more emotionally engaging, make characters more interesting and sympathetic, so I could care about them. Of course not every book need to be emotionally engaging and it's characters likable. It could be cold analysis of human behaviour, but I don't think it was the intention of the author.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Although the ending is quite violent it left me indifferent. It clearly suggest that a sequel is coming.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

It is hard to distinguish immediately who is talking Stuart or Oliver. It takes some time to observe 'Oh this is Stuart/Oliver talking!' I didn't like their interpretation of their characters, especially, often excessively brash. Also it doesn't help that the interpreter of the female main character Gillian do also, her mother, landlady, hotel owner etc. All in first-person voice.

Do you think Talking It Over needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Obviously, as I mentioned above, it ends like the end of a first volume of a novel, but I doubt I'll be interested in follow up.

Any additional comments?

I bought this book after listening excellent The Sense of an Ending and I expected something on this level but I was dearly disappointed.

Disappointing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Beginning as a menage a trois between three London stereotypes this became increasingly implausible and less interesting.
A promising structure & with good performances...it could have been clever and gripping.
But there were no radical plot developments - no witty twists...on it plodded.
How did it conclude? I'm not really sure - to me it just seemed to peter out, the characters fading into the background.
In the end I didn't really care who did what to whom or what happened as a result.

Predictable, implausible and unsatisfying

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Barnes' work is a delight. Light on the surface but offering profound observations on the vagaries of the human heart.

Wise and witty

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This good story was performed perfectly by the three voice actors. Going onto the follow up book and hoping it matches this one

Excellent

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.