Elizabeth Finch

I've always enjoyed reading Barnes, but did not get on with this book at all. In it, the author asks the question of what is a life and how can we ever truly know someone else? There is also the debate about how one perception can be changed by another's, the realisation that that party perhaps knew the person of interest better than you. So far so plausible, and Elizabeth Finch is undoubtedly an enigma. The first part of this eponymous novel had me intrigued, not that I felt any affection towards the character. By the second, I was bored, particularly owing to the meandering inter-religious philosophy. There was little resolution by the conclusion, to the charity shop. 6/10.

By Julian Barnes