Julian Barnes' Arthur & George is an interesting piece of historical non-fiction fiction. That is, it's Barnes' fictional novel about all true events. It contains word-for-word reproductions of letters that were sent back and forth between the real people, and all of the events, chronology and character names are intact. It's quite an interesting way to approach a novel, and while it's far from being the first of its kind, it is also a very interesting read. That being said, it loses focus very often, giving the impression that Barnes had material for about three different novels, but tried to cram it all into one story, and at some points it just doesn't work.
On one hand, we have a love story. It is the story of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - the world renowned author of the series of mystery stories starring Sherlock Holmes - as he falls in love for the first time, marries, loses his wife and comes to realize that it is OK to stop mourning and to move on. The book has some very touching moments, such as when Arthur's daughter reveals to him that his first wife's dying words were that it would make her happy to know he would remarry. As Arthur - a man raised to be immaculately polite and to conform to all of the rules and regulations of Victorian era England - comes to these realizations, the reader doesn't get very much input into Arthur's own thoughts. This of course could be due to the fact that Barnes respects the real Arthur and didn't want to pretend to know what he had been thinking, but with the inner speculations we get from other characters, this was noticeably missing.
On the other hand we have a mystery in the vein of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's own stories. George - a young English man of Parsee descent - has been wrongfully convicted of mutilating several farm animals, and is jailed for three years and his reputation and law practice is ruined. After his release he seeks justice and a return to normal, working life, so he enlists the help of a prestigious mystery writer to help solve the case. Arthur takes the case pro bono, enraged by the obvious wrong-doing of the English government and sees it as an opportunity to right this wrong. Unfortunately, it takes so long to get to any of this action in the story that by the time it comes around, the book is almost done and very little time is spent on this monumental case which the entire novel has been building up to.
On the "third hand", we have a story about the conflict between faith (whether it be religious or simply spiritual) and science. Much of this conflict occurs with Arthur, as he claims to be a man of science and reason - often comparing himself to his own character, Sherlock Holmes - but he is also a devout believer in "spiritism", and realms of the supernatural. Throughout the story Arthur refers to both schools of logic - that of "faith", and that of "reason". One very important line in the book occurs when Arthur and George first meet to discuss the case, and Arthur says, "I do not think you are innocent. I do not believe you are innocent. I know you are innocent." This statement flows through the message of the story, saying that it does not really matter where one's logic and beliefs lie (be it in religion, science, etc.), as long as the person [i]knows[/i] that what they believe is right.
Julian Barnes’ latest is a good book, no doubt about it. While it was not necessarily my cup of tea, it was definitely an intriguing story with a few well drawn characters and a wonderful writing style that evokes the times very well. But it just feels too unfocused to be anything more than the perfect example of a book that could have been brilliant, but fell short when it came down to making any kind of emotional connection between the reader and either of the main characters. Giving more inner turmoil to many of the supporting characters than it does to either Arthur or George really took away from any weight it may have had when the conclusion finally came around. And its complete lack of focus throughout is a huge detractor.
Arthur & George is a read that can be recommended to fans of both historical fiction and non-fiction, but borrow from the library or - if you do decide to purchase it - wait until the price has lowered or a paperback edition comes out.
