The Lemon Table

With high wit and a complete lack of sentimentality, this collection of stories faces the facts of aging and death. Stories include A Short History of Hairdressing, in which the narrator gets a haircut at three stages in his life, and notices how differently he is treated in each; Hygiene, about an aging suburbanite whose only pleasure--an occasional tryst with a prostitute named Babs--comes to a sad end; Things You Know, about two friends, both widows, who meet for their monthly lunch and a hefty dose of mutual pity; Appetite, in which an old man's only hold on on reality is the recipes his wife reads to him; and The Revival, about Turgenev as an old man hopelessly in love with a young actress. The book's title may come from the fact that the lemon is a Chinese symbol for death. Or it may denote Julian Barnes's somewhat sour--but bracing--view of the coming of old age. A New York Times Notable Book for 2004. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.