Before She Met Me - Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes' novel, Before She Met Me, is typical of the author's work in its combination of the comedy and horror that occurs in ordinary life. It tells of the disintegration of a second marriage as the husband becomes obsessed with discovering his wife's previous lovers,studying films she made when younger and going through extraordinary lengths to absorb every detail of her male co-actors' lifes. The depiction of the destructiveness of jealousy is both funny and shocking. Rarely has the full power of this emotion over a seemingly mild character been so convincingly portrayed. Barnes forces the reader to consider what love really is and whether it is ...  Read the complete review

Julian Barnes - Before She Met Me This novel tells the story of a man (a historian ie. past present idea) who leaves his wife after having an affair and remarries. At first he is extreamily happy with the situation, he's left a stale marriage he never enjoyed and has found someone who he loves and who loves him. The problems start when one day he sees a film with his wife in it. (Before she met him she was an actress.) Gradually he becomes more and more obsessed with the past and with his wife 'committing adultery' on and off the screen. He begins to watch all her films and searches out all information about her past. What happened ...  Read the complete review