Elizabeth Finch by Julian Barnes

April 03, 2023

Elizabeth Finch by Julian Barnes

Elizabeth Finch by Julian Barnes is published on 23rd February 2023 in paperback by Vintage/Penguin. My thanks to the author and publisher who sent me a copy and Random Book Tours for inviting me to take part on the tour.

Synopsis

The Sunday Times Bestseller from the Winner of the Booker Prize

She will change the way you see the world . . .

'I'll remember Elizabeth Finch when most other characters I've met this year have faded' The Times

Elizabeth Finch was a teacher, a thinker, an inspiration. Neil is just one of many who fell under her spell during his time in her class. Tasked with unpacking her notebooks after her death, Neil encounters once again Elizabeth's astonishing ideas on the past and on how to make sense of the present.

But Elizabeth was much more than a scholar. Her secrets are waiting to be revealed . . . and will change Neil's view of the world forever.

'Enthralling . . . A connoisseur and master of irony himself, [Barnes] fills this book with instances of its exhilarating power' Sunday Times

'A lyrical, thoughtful and intriguing exploration of love, grief and the collective myths of history'

Booklist

My Review

This is an incredibly interesting story written in three parts. Part 1 centres around Elizabeth, how she teaches, and the professional relationship that builds up between herself and Neil. For me this was an incredibly and powerfully written piece. Elizabeth is a character/ person I have never come across before , either in fiction or in real life and I was heavily drawn to her and her style of teaching.

Part 2 however, did not reach the same level for me as it is about Neil writing an essay on Caesar Julian, which he, after finding Elizabeth's notes,feels she would have written. For me this is a section which outstays it's welcome within the story and would have benefited from being considerably shorter. Consequently at the point where I was in danger of putting the book down, due to losing the intrigue it had created in the first section, I moved onto the final section of the book which picks up where the first section left off. Again this final section pulled me back into the storyline and I finished the book feeling as though I had learnt a lot and also experienced an insightful teaching method from Elizabeth.

This is a book that is generally very well written, creating a lot of thought provoking moments for the reader about who actually was Elizabeth Finch as a person and what was she really like behind the facade of teacher.

I would love to have had the opportunity to have met a "real-life" Elizabeth during my education and , as the quote on the cover states;

She will change the way you see the world.......

About the Author

Julian Barnes is the author of thirteen novels, including The Sense of an Ending, which won the 2011 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, and Sunday Times bestsellers The Noise of Time and The Only Story.

He has also written three books of short stories, four collections of essays and three books of non-fiction, including the Sunday Times number one bestseller Levels of Life and Nothing To Be Frightened Of, which won the 2021 Yasnaya Polyana Prize in Russia.

In 2017 he was awarded the Légion d'honneur.