The bestselling, Booker Prize-winning author of The Sense of an Ending trains his laser-bright prose on the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe.
Stoyo Petkanov, the deposed Party leader, is placed on trial for crimes that range from corruption to political murder. Petkanov's guilt—and the righteousness of his opponents—would seem to be self-evident. But, as brilliantly imagined by Barnes, the trial of this cunning and unrepentant dictator illuminates the shadowy frontier between the rusted myths of the Communist past and a capitalist future in which everything is up for grabs.
"Wonderfully agile ... the provocations are as numerous as the title indicates.... [Barnes] is witty and telling and may not be outracing events by a great deal." —Los Angeles Times
"Barnes's novels have a mesmeric charm and an air of dangerous simplicity.... [He is] an exceptionally accomplished and ingenious stylist." —The New York Review of Books
"Gripping ... Barnes relates this compelling story with his usual narrative brio, sketching his characters with the broad, colorful strokes of a mythic allegory." —The New York Times
"The Porcupine is a work of power.... Barnes has woven a rich tapestry of life in a post-communist country.... [He] provides a shock befitting a master storyteller and irony worthy of a philosopher." —Chicago Tribune
"Barnes is a fluent novelist, clever and richly inventive.... The Porcupine could hardly be more up to date." —Vanity Fair
"With the artful framework of testimony, internal monologue and chorus, Barnes's imagery is spare but vivid.... The central characters ... are cunningly defined by their ambiguities.... [He is] brilliant." —San Francisco Chronicle
"One of England's most interesting and provocative novelists ... Barnes ... display[s] a remarkable versatility, a dashing wit, and a sense of irony that keeps his wonderfully idiosyncratic creations under tight control." —New Republic
"Absolutely brilliant and full of amazing possibilities." —Dallas Morning News
"Barnes is a dazzling mind in mercurial flight." —Philadelphia Inquirer
JULIAN BARNES is the author of twenty-four previous books, for which he has received the Man Booker Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award, the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Prix Médicis and Prix Femina in France, and the Jerusalem Prize. In 2017 he was awarded the Légion d’honneur. His work has been translated into more than forty languages. He lives in London.
View titles by Julian Barnes
The bestselling, Booker Prize-winning author of The Sense of an Ending trains his laser-bright prose on the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe.
Stoyo Petkanov, the deposed Party leader, is placed on trial for crimes that range from corruption to political murder. Petkanov's guilt—and the righteousness of his opponents—would seem to be self-evident. But, as brilliantly imagined by Barnes, the trial of this cunning and unrepentant dictator illuminates the shadowy frontier between the rusted myths of the Communist past and a capitalist future in which everything is up for grabs.
Praise
"Wonderfully agile ... the provocations are as numerous as the title indicates.... [Barnes] is witty and telling and may not be outracing events by a great deal." —Los Angeles Times
"Barnes's novels have a mesmeric charm and an air of dangerous simplicity.... [He is] an exceptionally accomplished and ingenious stylist." —The New York Review of Books
"Gripping ... Barnes relates this compelling story with his usual narrative brio, sketching his characters with the broad, colorful strokes of a mythic allegory." —The New York Times
"The Porcupine is a work of power.... Barnes has woven a rich tapestry of life in a post-communist country.... [He] provides a shock befitting a master storyteller and irony worthy of a philosopher." —Chicago Tribune
"Barnes is a fluent novelist, clever and richly inventive.... The Porcupine could hardly be more up to date." —Vanity Fair
"With the artful framework of testimony, internal monologue and chorus, Barnes's imagery is spare but vivid.... The central characters ... are cunningly defined by their ambiguities.... [He is] brilliant." —San Francisco Chronicle
"One of England's most interesting and provocative novelists ... Barnes ... display[s] a remarkable versatility, a dashing wit, and a sense of irony that keeps his wonderfully idiosyncratic creations under tight control." —New Republic
"Absolutely brilliant and full of amazing possibilities." —Dallas Morning News
"Barnes is a dazzling mind in mercurial flight." —Philadelphia Inquirer
JULIAN BARNES is the author of twenty-four previous books, for which he has received the Man Booker Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award, the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Prix Médicis and Prix Femina in France, and the Jerusalem Prize. In 2017 he was awarded the Légion d’honneur. His work has been translated into more than forty languages. He lives in London.
View titles by Julian Barnes
