Julian Barnes is a British novelist little known outside of his home country. At least I assume he isn't. I read a fair amount of British fiction and I'd ever heard of him. He's been writing novels since the 80s, and has a new novel, Elizabeth Finch, due this year.
The Noise of Time follows the career of Dmitri Shostakovich, noted Soviet composer and pianist who died in 1975. Shostakovich struggled to appease the Soviet authorities throughout his lifetime, sometimes finding his work celebrated and other times finding himself the target of rumors and unfounded criticism.
The Noise of Time isn't so much about Shostakovich's life as his feelings toward an oppressive government, and as such it would pair well with Orwell's 1984 and Russian works such as The Gulag Archipelago or The Master and Margarita. It doesn't offer much in terms of characters or settings, it's extremely short, and the narrative for the most part consists of Shostakovich's reminiscences regarding youthful exploits, a trip abroad, and his anxieties regarding his position in Russian society.
It's an interesting if not particularly memorable book. I don't feel that The Noise of Time offers me enough to judge Julian Barnes as a writer, though I'd be glad to get better acquainted with his work in the future.
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