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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
EAN num: 9780375705502
ISBN number: 0375705503
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 288
Printing Date: April 11, 2000
Publishing house: Vintage
Release Date: April 11, 2000
Sale Popularity Level: 77133
Studio: Vintage
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Imagine being able to visit England--all of England--in a single weekend. Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Stonehenge and Hadrian's Wall, Harrods, Manchester United Football Club, the Tower of London, and even the Royal Family all within easy distance of the each other, accessible, and, best of all, each one living up to an idealized version of itself. This fantasy Britain is the very real (and some would say very cynical) vision of Sir Jack Pitman, a monumentally egomaniacal mogul with a more than passing resemblance to modern-day buccaneers Sir Rupert Murdoch or Robert Maxwell: ''We are not talking theme park,' he began. 'We are not talking heritage centre. We are not talking Disneyland, World's Fair, Festival of Britain, Legoland or Parc Asterix.'' No indeed; Sir Jack proposes nothing less than to offer 'the thing itself,' a re-creation of everything that adds up to England in the hearts and minds of tourists looking for an 'authentic' experience. But where to locate such an enterprise? As Sir Jack points out, England, as the mighty William and many others have observed, is an island. Therefore, if we are serious, if we are seeking to offer the thing itself, we in turn must go in search of a precious whatsit set in a silver doodah.
Soon the perfect whatsit is found: the Isle of Wight; and a small army of Sir Jack's forces are sent to lay siege to it. Swept up in the mayhem are Martha Cochrane, a thirtysomething consultant teetering on the verge of embittered middle age, and Paul Harrison, a younger man looking for an anchor in the world. The two very first find each other, then trip over a skeleton in Sir Jack's closet that might prove useful to their careers but disastrous to their relationship. In the course of constructing this mad package-tour dystopia, Julian Barnes has a terrific time skewering postmodernism, the British, the press, the government, celebrity, and big business. At the same time his very funny novel offers a provocative meditation on the nature of identity, both individual and national, as the lines between the replica and the thing itself begin to blur. Readers of Barnes have learned to expect the unexpected, and once again he more than lives up to the promise in England, England. But then, that was only to be expected. --Alix Wilber
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Booker Prize Finalist
'Wickedly funny.' --The New York Times
Imagine an England where all the pubs are quaint, where the Windsors behave themselves (mostly), where the cliffs of Dover are actually white, and where Robin Hood and his merry men really are merry. This is precisely what visionary tycoon, Sir Jack Pitman, seeks to accomplish on the Isle of Wight, a 'destination' where tourists can find replicas of Big Ben (half size), Princess Di's grave, and even Harrod's (conveniently located inside the tower of London).
Martha Cochrane, hired as one of Sir Jack's resident 'no-people,' ably assists him in realizing his dream. But when this land of make-believe gradually gets horribly and hilariously out of hand, Martha develops her own vision of the perfect England. Julian Barnes delights us with a novel that is at once a philosophical inquiry, a burst of mischief, and a moving elegy about authenticity and nationality.
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Rated by buyers 
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I wish I were older and/or had better knowledge concerning England. Everything I know at this point consists of the scant details spoon-fed to me in high school and a history survey in college. But even with this limited knowledge, Julian Barnes' England, England is a wonderful satire, one that even such as myself was able to enjoy.
The novel tells the story of the strangely brilliant Sir Jack Pitman, who builds an island "England, England," which is a small miniaturized version of England that attracts tourists from all over the world. Packed within a few square miles are scaled down versions of all that the rest of the world views as inherently "English." From Robin Hood and Buckingham Palace, to pubs and Princess Di's tombstone, the small tourist attraction professes to include everything a tourist would want to see in England but in a quarter of the time.
Much of the novel is told through the eyes of Martha Cochrane, a middle-aged woman with the kind of outsider's point of view that is both strange and comforting once it's thrown into this plan to create Pitman's dream island. Her views on sex, relationships, and just about everything is told, along with the rest of the novel, in the type of dry humour much of the world has come to associate with the British. I found myself laughing as Barnes described some of the historical possibilities including Robin and his Merry Men being a group of homosexuals and other such reinterpretations.
Though I found this novel wonderful, I can see a lot of people not liking it. Barnes' prose is dense and makes it impossible to skim. And many parts of the novel include really elaborate descriptions, which for some may seem over-elaborate and possibly boring. But, if you're a fan of old English literature like Dickens or of dry British humor, you will certainly enjoy this book. I did.
Some Quotes:
"Why did love seem to come with a subversive edge of boredom attached, tenderness with irritation?"
"What if I suggested that England's function in the world was to act as an emblem of decline, a moral and economic scarecrow?"
"Dr. Johnson had put it better, of course: they had lost that tenderness of look, and that benevolence of mind."
Rated by buyers -
In England, England, Julian Barnes inhabits similar territory to that of Unswaorth's Losing Nelson, but humorously. One character lists quintessences (there are more than five) of Englishness and many, perhaps most, are myth, by nature or association. And the purpose of identifying these icons of Englishness is to facilitate the construction, by Sir Jack Pitman on an eventually independent Isle of Wight, of an England Theme Park, packed with imitation and reproduction experience, collected together to take the strain out of tourism. Theme Park England becomes, itself, the quintessence (just one) of corporate identity and presence, with the products on offer being seen and marketed as "better" than the originals. It's all a great sucess until, that is, the imitations begin to adopt their assigned identities. Smugglers become a problem when they start smuggling. Dr. Samuel Johnson changes his name to - guess what? - Dr. Samuel Johnson and begins emulating the behaviour of the historical figure, along with a few of his own improvisations for added effect. The King thinks he's a king and Robin Hood and his Merrie Men yearn to be real outlaws. They are all in breach of contract. Through humour, the book asks questions about what is essential in national personal identity. The project identifies myths and reproduces them as second order experience which themselves become as capable of fulfilling the role of identity creation, definition and perpetuation as the real thing. So, by extension, the book questions how we create, assume and sustain cultures and their associated values.
Rated by buyers 
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(3.5 stars) In this witty satire of English traditions, values, and national identity, the eccentric Sir Jack Pitman gathers a staff of "forward-thinking" consultants and young executives to create the ultimate theme park. Sir Jack intends to relocate (or recreate, if he must) all of England's important tourist sites in one location--the Isle of Wight--creating a "Disneyland" of British history. Time is fluid here--Robin Hood and his band inhabit the woodland while Dr. Samuel Johnson holds forth in the local pub. The Battle of Britain is reenacted while shepherds and farmers cultivate the countryside using the oldest of tools.
The "selling" of the theme park idea to the king, who will appear at functions, and to the Houses of Parliament, which Pitman hopes to move there, is no less ambitious than his plan to challenge the thirteenth century purchase of the Isle of Wight by England so that he himself can govern it as a separate country. Sir Jack hires Martha Cochrane, an ambitious woman nearing forty, to be his primary assistant, along with a cast of eccentric characters, all of whom are determined to produce a new, more compact "England" to which tourists will be drawn in droves.
Throughout this wickedly complex satire, author Julian Barnes examines what constitutes "Englishness," raising issues of how Britons define reality, what role the Church of England plays in real life, how important to present life are the "roots" of ancient history, and more personal subjects, such as how one defines salvation, what constitutes love, and whether integrity can exist within a business environment. Naturally, the concept of the theme park and its reality do not always mesh. The fake smugglers become real smugglers, Robin Hood and his Merry Men really do rob from the rich, and Dr. Johnson turns out to be an inebriated cynic who refuses to socialize at the pub.
Despite the intriguing concept and the pointed satire, this is a very "talky" novel, with little real action. Conferences in the boardroom or Sir Jack's office vastly outnumber scenes in which something actually happens, and the author's self-conscious wit and arch observations pall in the course of the more than four hundred pages. Sir Jack, Martha Cochrane, and her lover Paul Harrison never develop enough human qualities to add genuine humour to the dark cynicism of the satire, and the reader often feels a bit patronized--left out of the joke. Ultimately, Barnes shows the cycle of history repeating as he fantasizes about the future. An idea more interesting in concept than in execution. n Mary Whipple
Rated by buyers -
This book, as previous reviews point out, develops a great scenario. It puts the reader into a future in which England is falling apart but simultaneously a replica England (replete with Beefeaters, Robin Hood and Dr. Johnson) on the Isle of Wight becomes a huge commercial success, overtaking the original.
The idea is powerful, the imagery vivid, some of the figures engaging, including the female protagonist, and the scenario can be fun, England's entire history condensed into a theme park.
It is, alas, not Julian Barnes' best book. Barnes has a tendency to go for the crude snapshot, which profoundly damages the nuance that he is capable of. I realize that some people find an occasional crass moment refreshing, but I'm personally quite put off.
Also, the theme of a Robert Maxwell-like figure taking over an island and manufacturing pretty history, making it only available to credit-worthy customers is alright, but don't expect a profound examination of authenticity and replica, whatever the blurb says. Part of this examination goes under in a clichéed pirate-capitalist, the rest never fully develops because Barnes goes for the obvious. The corporate intrigue does not unfold as a story, either. For that, the novel is too concerned with the replica scenario, and simultaneously spinning too much around a fairly trite setup. Reading the newspaper about Enron is more exciting than this.
There are people who profoundly like this book, and I understand why. It is okay as a read, but it left me much colder than some of Barnes' previous novels. Some of the stylistic tricks are the same as they used to be, and previously they worked better. I normally dog-ear every page where I find something remarkable. There are lots of dog ears in my copies of some of Barnes' other novels, not a single in this one.
Rated by buyers -
This novel puts more than a few interesting ideas on the table (not just the obvious central ones mind you) and then investigates one persons reaction to history and ageing. I found it an increasingly poignant book which spoke to me in a few ways - the downshifter in me anyway... Some of the twists are a little far-fetched or hypereal at best but although there are admittedly a lot of English references the key themes will be totally accessible to any internationally minded citizen.
An intriguing post-modern tale.
TNP...
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