DISNEYLAND ACROSS THE POND

by GERBAM on 02 July 2007

Julian Barnes is a writer with great virtuosity, which he displays in ENGLAND, ENGLAND
about greedy business interests who want to transform England into a dystopian, fantasmagorical Disneyland-like theme park. But what the population doesn't know is that the 'theme park' is a fantasy designed for tourists to be able 'to do' the country in a week-end albeit on the Isle of Wight. Barnes seess his country and the rest of the world with unchecked cynicism. His concerns focus upon what he sees as a world full of charlatans and shysters, a disenchanted populace who walk through each day in a fugue state. ENGLAND, ENGLAND is a cautionary tale mixed with the elements of a listing moral aesthetic. This book is a meditation on a future that Barnes sees in jeopardy ... his remedy is that people must keep asking questions of the powerful people and institutions who make the rules. An excelllent read.