Parrotry at it's... finest?

I did not respond to the end of the book, so I thought I would do so now.  Flaubert's Parrot was an awkward book at best; the entire premise of the book was very strange.  For someone to be so obsessed with someone to write a book such as this about someone else is a little obsessive.  Barnes explored many parts of Flaubert's life, in some cases revealing how obsessed he actually was.  Take, for example, chapter 12 in Flaubert's Parrot, Braithwaite's Dictionary of Accepted Ideas.  In this chapter, Barnes goes through many people, places, and events that are related to Flaubert's life.  Although I liked the definitions provided for each letter of the alphabet, it was a very strange chapter.  I believe that Geofrey's character is actually Barnes's attempt at showing his obsession with Flaubert, without revealing that he is actually the one infatuated with Flaubert.

I really did enjoy the content of chapter 14, Examination Paper, although I don't believe that it was sufficient in wrapping up the story.  I enjoyed how it offered all of the different analysis on the different matters, and related them back to Flaubert's life (ie. criticism, economics, psychology).  This was great, but it was sort of a strange ending to a story with characters.  I understand that the overall point of this book was to offer an analysis on Flaubert's life, but it didn't really end the story of the characters.  Chapter 13 did this to some extent, telling the story of Ellen's death and Braithwaite's feelings on it, but I feel like some more closure is necessary. 

Overall, this was a very awkward book due to the Braithwaite/Barnes character and the infatuation with Flaubert, but I did enjoy some parts of it.