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Staring At The Sun
Charts the life of Jean Serjeant, from her beginnings as a naive, carefree country girl before the war through to her wry and trenchant old age in the year 2020. This novel enables readers to follow her experience in marriage, her questioning of male truths, her adventures in motherhood and in China.
Paperback, 195 pages
Published
March 18th 2005
by Picador USA
(first published 1986)
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Community Reviews
(showing 1-30)
May 08, 2012
Cecily
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
miscellaneous-fiction,
historical-20th-cent
Julian Barnes has certainly improved a bit in the last 25 years. I recently read his wonderful latest book, The Sense of an Ending (review here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...), and for my second Barnes, turned to this, one of his earliest, from 1986. Both books document a long life, but the style is very different. There is a promising novel struggling to reveal itself here, but this isn't it.
It is the story of Jean, told in three parts: as a late teen on the cusp of marriage at the e ...more
It is the story of Jean, told in three parts: as a late teen on the cusp of marriage at the e ...more
The really important questions do not have answers: and the really important answers do not need questions. Life is itself, not comparable to anything. And all the great miracles are present in the here and the now, if only we can see them... like staring at the sun through the gap between your fingers.
...Some of the things which I took away from this magical, unreviewable book.
Read it.
...Some of the things which I took away from this magical, unreviewable book.
Read it.
This is an early Barnes book (1986) which recalled Metroland (1980), one of his first books that got me hooked on Barnes. After reading most of his last books this was both a blast in the past as well as making me realize that some of his subjects such as love, death and existence has never left him and hence, reinforces why I love his books.
This is the story of a very plain woman, Jean Sergeant who, after living through World War II meets a pilot who boasts he can stare at the sun. Intrigued by ...more
This is the story of a very plain woman, Jean Sergeant who, after living through World War II meets a pilot who boasts he can stare at the sun. Intrigued by ...more
Ho trovato interessante il progetto di base di questo romanzo, ma il modo in cui lo scrittore ha scelto di svilupparlo mi è sembrato fiacco e disorganico. L'ho letto sulla scia del bellissimo "Il senso di una fine", sperando di trovarvi la stessa densità di contenuti, ma le mie aspettative sono risultate in gran parte deluse.
Le pagine più originali e suggestive sono quelle relative alla vicenda della protagonista, Jean, che, ormai quasi centenaria, ripercorre gli episodi salienti della propria v ...more
Le pagine più originali e suggestive sono quelle relative alla vicenda della protagonista, Jean, che, ormai quasi centenaria, ripercorre gli episodi salienti della propria v ...more
In his recent Booker Prizewinning The Sense of an Ending, Julian Barnes' middle-aged character tries to make sense of a pivotal event in his life many years ago. Barnes had written about an elderly character looking back on a life once before in Staring at the Sun, one of his earlier works written in 1985, and the difference between the two books is instructive. Both are massively ambitious. Whereas The Sense of an Ending explores the nature of history, Staring at the Sun tries to tell whether y
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2.5 stars
Either I'm not smart enough for this book or it's not as good as I hoped it would be. Or both.
The good:
1. I love Jean. She's curious but naive and no one will tell her anything about anything. It's no wonder she agrees that she must be stupid when really she's anything but.
2. Other characters are inconsistently developed, but filtered through Jean and their interactions with Jean, they are interesting, especially Tommy Prosser, Uncle Leslie, and Rachel.
3. There aren't a lot of writer ...more
Either I'm not smart enough for this book or it's not as good as I hoped it would be. Or both.
The good:
1. I love Jean. She's curious but naive and no one will tell her anything about anything. It's no wonder she agrees that she must be stupid when really she's anything but.
2. Other characters are inconsistently developed, but filtered through Jean and their interactions with Jean, they are interesting, especially Tommy Prosser, Uncle Leslie, and Rachel.
3. There aren't a lot of writer ...more
One of the most remarkable books I ever read. I'm generally stuck in either whodunit or historical ruts, and it has to be said I'm happy there.
But this is one of the few exceptions that has, as we stuck in the '60s insist on saying, 'blown my mind'. It is such a mixture of tragedy, comedy, trivia and deep philosophy as to keep the reader on his toes throughout. And it's not a page-turner; every so often, you just have to slip in a bookmark and think. Then re-read the chapter that MADE you think. ...more
But this is one of the few exceptions that has, as we stuck in the '60s insist on saying, 'blown my mind'. It is such a mixture of tragedy, comedy, trivia and deep philosophy as to keep the reader on his toes throughout. And it's not a page-turner; every so often, you just have to slip in a bookmark and think. Then re-read the chapter that MADE you think. ...more
I'd like to think I'd have been brave enough to be a woman, but somehow I doubt it. It remains to be seen how I'll cope with the tedious matter of death but I'm no rush to sit that test.
Dazzlingly thought provoking, brilliantly written (as always) and with a charming foretelling of our world of Google, Wikipedia and Siri - imagination, pathos and a morbid honesty.
I will read everything Julian Barnes has written because failing to do so would be unforgiveable.
Dazzlingly thought provoking, brilliantly written (as always) and with a charming foretelling of our world of Google, Wikipedia and Siri - imagination, pathos and a morbid honesty.
I will read everything Julian Barnes has written because failing to do so would be unforgiveable.
Předem si tedy nemyslím, že je dobré zvolit si za hlavní postavu nudnou anglickou frigidku, jejíž největší životní dobrodružství bylo to, že přemýšlela nad sendvičem. Po vcelku nudném dětství, které Barnes natáhne na celou třetinu, během které se nestane nic, i když to chvilkama vypadá, že ji vohne pilot internovaný v jejich domě, tak konečně nastupuje druhá třetina, kdy se frigidka nechá ukecat do manželství, jen proto aby zjistila, že je vážně studenější než mrazák. Přesto ale nadržený manžel
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A Julian Barnes story is never much about taking a journey through different places or different ages. Don’t get me wrong, those aspects are part of his stories as is the case with Staring at the Sun. But the protagonist and his or her journey is of lesser importance as Barnes seeks to strike a deeper chord with us through his ideas, ideologies, his convictions, his doubts on a whole range of topics, be it the existence of God (which you will read even in his other book Nothing to be Frightened
...more
Ďalšia kniha od Juliana Barnesa, v ktorej nechýbajú úvahy o smrti, samovražde, posmrtnom živote a existencii boha. Len si nie som istá, či si autor konkrétne v tomto prípade zvolil najšťastnejšie.
K prvým dvom častiam knihy, ktoré sú venované jednoduchému životu prostej Jean Serjeantovej od detstva po začiatok staroby a nevynikajúcej takmer v ničom, je pripojená časť tretia, kde sa jej syn zamýšľa nad ukončením svojho života a kde vedie rozhovory s akýmsi futuristickým "vševediacim" počítačom, p ...more
K prvým dvom častiam knihy, ktoré sú venované jednoduchému životu prostej Jean Serjeantovej od detstva po začiatok staroby a nevynikajúcej takmer v ničom, je pripojená časť tretia, kde sa jej syn zamýšľa nad ukončením svojho života a kde vedie rozhovory s akýmsi futuristickým "vševediacim" počítačom, p ...more
Apr 11, 2012
Megan
added it
We could never be married, me and Julian Barnes. His point of view is too foreign to me, we would be discussing the same thing and scarcely able to understand each other. Separated by a common language, as it were. It's not to say that I didn't like, or find sympathy with, or relate to this book, or any of his books, for that matter; I'm just not sure I understand where he's coming from, or where he's going. At the end, what I feel most of is perplexity.
A NY Times Best Book of 1987. The novel charts the life of Jean Serjeant, a lower middle-class English woman, from girlhood through WW II, marriage, separation, motherhood and travel to the age of 99 in the 21st century. The underlying question is whether ordinary people must lead ordinary lives or if magic is possible. Jean leads an everyday life with glimpses of enchantment and therein lies the beauty of the novel.
Another brilliant book by Julian Barnes. With "Flaubert's Parrot" and "The Story of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters" they are my three favorite books by Julian Barnes and all of them make it in my top 10 books of all times.
This book is hugely surprising. I find it hard to say more without giving away the plot. Let's say that it asks Very Important question in a very original way.
This book is hugely surprising. I find it hard to say more without giving away the plot. Let's say that it asks Very Important question in a very original way.
Jeden dlouhý život v poměrně krátkém románu. Výborně napsané.
"why is the mink tenacious of life?"
Absolutely superb. I have thoroughly enjoyed books by William Boyd, Kate Atkinson & Loius de Berniere which have covered a life but they have been overly long books. Whether this book was the forerunner of such books I don't know but Barnes seems able to cover the same length of time but manages to write so more succinctly (less than 200 pages). Barnes has a wry sense of humour. At times one appears to be reading a philosophy book with such sharp observations. There is always a slight proble
...more
A book in three parts. The first two parts develop interesting characters and ideas. Part 3 goes into an imaginary future with some sort of state controlled wikipedia wgich is out of keeping with the first two parts of the novel. All a bit disjointed and unsatisfactory.
I'm afraid I gave up on this about 30 pages from the end, although I had been engrossed earlier it just became clear that there are many better books to read.
“…the crew would be thinking of hot coffee fierce with chicory…” (4).
“Adults were always throwing things out. That was clearly one of the big differences. Children liked keeping things” (8).
“ ‘That’s one of the funny things you notice. You can’t get better without experience, but it’s while you’re getting the experience that you’re most likely to get knocked down. It’s always the youngest chaps that you might not see again at the end of an op. So as the war goes on, what happens in a squadron is ...more
“Adults were always throwing things out. That was clearly one of the big differences. Children liked keeping things” (8).
“ ‘That’s one of the funny things you notice. You can’t get better without experience, but it’s while you’re getting the experience that you’re most likely to get knocked down. It’s always the youngest chaps that you might not see again at the end of an op. So as the war goes on, what happens in a squadron is ...more
An unusual and interesting book. The problem is perhaps that it tries to do too much in under two hundred pages -- tell the story of a woman who lives to be 100, be an effective comic novel, and solve the major philosophical issues of human existence. Barnes succeeds to some extent in each of these, but the result felt disjointed to me.
There is not much story, really, and what there is is shaped by the girlhood of the central figure, Jean Serjeant. It's worth taking note of two earlier character ...more
There is not much story, really, and what there is is shaped by the girlhood of the central figure, Jean Serjeant. It's worth taking note of two earlier character ...more
Now in her nineties, Jean Sergeant reflects on her life. The reader learns about her first memories of her childhood friendship w/ her favorite Uncle Leslie. She is 17 when WWI begins. She lives in a world in her head; there is much of life that doesn't make sense to her. Important moments of her childhood become filters she uses to view life. Sergeant Prosser moves in with Jean's family during the war; he's a grounded Hurricane pilot. Jean marries and has a child, eventually travelling the worl
...more
Here is a sentence from towards the end of this roaming philosophical novel, describing a flight taken at dusk: “four broad fingers of cloud stretched across the horizon, and the sun was slipping down the back of them. Several times it popped into bright view and disappeared again, like a juggler's coin spinning slowly through the knuckles.”
Every image echoes something that has gone before in the life of centenarian Jean Serjeant: the four fingers of cloud are a reminder of WWII pilot Tommy Pros ...more
Every image echoes something that has gone before in the life of centenarian Jean Serjeant: the four fingers of cloud are a reminder of WWII pilot Tommy Pros ...more
The author attempts an intellectually complex work that tries to incorporate several weighty political, humanist and existential issues into the simple narrative of Jean Serjeant through her childhood in 1920s to her final moments in 2020s. I found the book a little ambitious and sprinkled with too many metaphorical allusions. However, it is a fairly interesting philosophical comment on modern life, sectioned very well into three parts as the past (around WW2), the present (the book was written
...more
The blurb of this edition is plastered with enthusiastic reviews which I struggle to endorse.
The book begins promisingly in the cockpit of a WW2 aircraft, with images from the English channel. We move on to explore the youth of our heroine, Jean, an undereducated and sheltered woman, her relationship with her uncle Leslie and her repressed courtship and marriage. We leap to her middle age, her life with her son, and her sudden discovery of travel. The last section deals ostensibly with her old ...more
The book begins promisingly in the cockpit of a WW2 aircraft, with images from the English channel. We move on to explore the youth of our heroine, Jean, an undereducated and sheltered woman, her relationship with her uncle Leslie and her repressed courtship and marriage. We leap to her middle age, her life with her son, and her sudden discovery of travel. The last section deals ostensibly with her old ...more
Staring at the Sun sat on my shelf for close to two years before I even cracked the binding. I found it at a used book store with an ex boyfriend which could have something to do with it or perhaps it was the truly unfortunate cover art on my copy that really held me back. Either way, after really pushing myself to get into this story that spans one woman's hundred year life span, once I got through early adolescence and into her teenage years the novel became a very beautiful read. There was a
...more
The first e-book I have read, usually on the train to work in the morning.
I chose the title having just read Irvin Yalom's Staring at the Sun which is subtitled overcoming the terror of death; I don't know if Julian Barnes had the same subtitle in mind when he wrote this tale but there is plenty of terror and death. The writing and the story telling are excellent, and though it is a 4-star read for me, I can't say what could be changed to make it a 5-star read. Whereas Yalom's book is in a sense ...more
I chose the title having just read Irvin Yalom's Staring at the Sun which is subtitled overcoming the terror of death; I don't know if Julian Barnes had the same subtitle in mind when he wrote this tale but there is plenty of terror and death. The writing and the story telling are excellent, and though it is a 4-star read for me, I can't say what could be changed to make it a 5-star read. Whereas Yalom's book is in a sense ...more
Philosophical musings about life, God and death in the context of the ordinary, mostly solitary life and memories of Jean:
It seemed to Jean that intelligence wasn’t as pure and unalterable a characteristic as people believed. Being intelligent was like being good: you could be virtuous in one person’s company and yet wicked in another’s. You could be intelligent with one person and stupid with another. It was partly to do with confidence.
and of her born-late-in-life son, Gregory:
… perhaps he was ...more
It seemed to Jean that intelligence wasn’t as pure and unalterable a characteristic as people believed. Being intelligent was like being good: you could be virtuous in one person’s company and yet wicked in another’s. You could be intelligent with one person and stupid with another. It was partly to do with confidence.
and of her born-late-in-life son, Gregory:
… perhaps he was ...more
This feels like a typical Barnes, at least to me. First two parts maybe less, but the third is Barnes at his best to me. I loved the story and the innocence of Jean, her adventures in childhood and marriage, and cluelessness. Maybe she just seems like someone who has no idea what life is but I feel like she has a really great idea of it, for the time when she was growing up, the society and its standards, she's 'adventurous'. She is funny, she is true to herself, even though she tries not to be,
...more
I finished this a couple of weeks ago and I just can't seem to get up the energy to write a review of it. (I know, I know, I'm not hyped up about writing a review of a book I read for free so that no one can get on with reading it, weird right?)
Hasn't aged that well. I thought I was reading a book about English people in the '40s and '50s and suddenly it's way, way later and everything's so boring. I liked the first third well enough, the war bits.
He kind of predicts the Internet, but in his ver ...more
Hasn't aged that well. I thought I was reading a book about English people in the '40s and '50s and suddenly it's way, way later and everything's so boring. I liked the first third well enough, the war bits.
He kind of predicts the Internet, but in his ver ...more
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| Not from amazon | 1 | 1 | Nov 19, 2016 10:46PM |
Julian Patrick Barnes is a contemporary English writer of postmodernism in literature. He has been shortlisted three times for the Man Booker Prize--- Flaubert's Parrot (1984), England, England (1998), and Arthur & George (2005), and won the prize for The Sense of an Ending (2011). He has written crime fiction under the pseudonym Dan Kavanagh.
Following an education at the City of London School ...more
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“It seemed...that intelligence wasn't as pure and unalterable a characteristic as people believed. Being intelligent was like being good: you could be virtuous in one person's company and yet wicked in another's. You could be intelligent with one person and stupid with another. It was partly to do with confidence...In a way she had been more confident when she had been eighteen and foolish. At twenty-three, with Michael, she felt less confident and therefore less intelligent.”
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“I want a more difficult life, that's all. What I really want is a first-rate life. I may not get it, but the only chance I have lies in getting out of a second-rate life. I may fail completely, but I do want to try. It's to do with me, not you; so don't worry.”
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