The more I read Barnes, the pattern and style of his novels is more noticeable. Two best friends, main protagonist who is mostly ordinary, almost boring guytuart), with a sidekick who is free minded, artistic looser and has almost no morals(Oliver). And there is a girl who ends up with the boring guy(Gill). Now, here is a twist, sidekick and the wife betray the main guy and run off together to, you guessed it, the holy land for Barnes that is France.
In the begining, you may percieve Oliver as a bad guy who almost on a whim started pursuing Gill, but the more you read, the bigger of a villain Stuart becomes. Yes, he was betrayed, yes he was hurt, but he became heartless bastard, and I had a feeling that even before, he was not completely in love with Gill, almost like she was just there and the first one who payed him attention and not Oliver. At the end, I ended up hating him. I pretty much despise all three of them, but they all have their motives and desires and none of the things that happened were actually thought out properly. Stuart took Oliver everywhere with him and Gill, and I think it was partly his fault that Oliver fell for Gill.
Now as for the style and narration, it is different, I especially like Oliver's parts and his insults, typical Barnes, and a twisted three part structure which was, again, typical for Barnes, gave the novel a new life, almost.
All in all, I liked the novel, and I like the way he turns 'ordinary' topics into deep psychological character studies, and his way with words will never cease to amaze me. I really disliked the characters, but again, it shows that they were greatly written, as they are not supposed to be likeable. The only thing that is getting a bit annoying is his recycling of his stock characters, which no matter how well written, all start to blend into one.