Summer Sale! Save 25% off a BookBrowse Membership, offer ends soon!

Excerpt from Pulse by Julian Barnes, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

Summary |  Excerpt |  Reading Guide |  Reviews |  Beyond the Book |  Readalikes |  Genres & Themes |  Author Bio

Pulse by Julian Barnes

Pulse

Stories

by Julian Barnes
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus (7):
  • Readers' Rating (1):
  • First Published:
  • May 3, 2011, 240 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Feb 2012, 240 pages
  • Rate this book

About this Book

Print Excerpt

"He only twinkled at me."
           
"Alice! I saw you with my own eyes perched on his knee."
           
Alice gave a tight smile. She could remember it all quite clearly: someone's flat in Little Venice, the usual faces, a Byrds LP playing, a background smell of dope, the famous visiting writer, her own sudden forwardness. "I perched, as you put it, on his knee. And he twinkled at me. End of story."
           
"But you told me..."
         
"No I didn't."
           
"But you let me understand..."
           
"Well, one has one's pride."
           
"You mean?"
           
"I mean he said he had an early start the next day. Paris, Copenhagen, wherever. Book tour. You know."
           
"The headache excuse."
           
"Precisely."
           
"Well," said Jane, trying to hide a sudden surge of jauntiness, "I've always believed that writers get more out of things going wrong than things going right. It's the only profession in which failure can be put to good use."
           
"I don't think ‘failure' exactly describes my moment with John Updike."
           
"Of course not, darling."
           
"And you are, if you don't mind my saying so, coming on a little like a self-help book. Or like you sound on Woman's Hour, brightly telling others how to live."
           
"Am I?"
           
"The point is, even if personal failure can be properly transformed into art, it still leaves you where you were when you started."
           
"And where's that?"
           
"Not having slept with John Updike."
           
"Well, if it's any consolation, I'm jealous of him twinkling at you."
           
"You're a friend," Alice replied, but her tone betrayed her.
           
They fell silent. Some large station went by.
           
"Was that Swindon?" Jane asked, to make it sound as if they weren't quarrelling.
           
"Probably."
           
"Do you think we have many readers in Swindon?" Oh, come on, Alice, don't get huffy on me. Or rather, don't let's get huffy on one another.
           
"What do you think?"
           

Excerpted from Pulse by Julian Barnes. Copyright © 2011 by Julian Barnes. Excerpted by permission of Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

BookBrowse Book Club

  • Book Jacket
    Before Dorothy
    by Hazel Gaynor
    Before Oz, Aunt Em leaves Chicago for Kansas in a powerful tale of courage, change, and new beginnings by Hazel Gaynor.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Making Friends Can Be Murder
    by Kathleen West

    Thirty-year-old Sarah Jones is drawn into a neighborhood murder mystery after befriending a deceptive con artist.

  • Book Jacket

    Ordinary Love
    by Marie Rutkoski

    A riveting story of class, ambition, and bisexuality—one woman risks everything for a second chance at first love.

Who Said...

If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

C K the C

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.