I loved The Lemon Table, Julian Barnes's other collection of stories, so was really looking forward to this book. I agree with The New York Times book reviewer, Michiki Kakutani, who said some of these should have been discards. In my opinion the best of these were not up to the weakest of his last collection.

Pulse is a new collection of 14 short stories by an elegant master of the form. These stories of mostly middle-aged British characters pulse with hope and optimism and demonstrate that Julian Barnes is an impeccable story teller. The first nine stories resonate with humour and wit. The dinner-party conversations of a group of old friends are exposed as smug, middle-aged liberal elites. Barnes has captured the sharp dialogue exchanges between these upper-class British dinner guests with a wicked sense of style. The stories reveal the way people misunderstand one another because of the ambiguities that often exist between lovers and friends. The five stories in the second half of the book are skillfully and delicately rendered around the senses of hearing, sight, touch, and taste as people get closer to one another as they try to connect. Barnes explores the themes of love, loss and death with acute observations that are deeply affecting. Pulse is a gem of a collection written by a very well respected author.

major disappointment. I felt Barnes was just transcribing dinner conversation.

"Marriage and relationships are the main preoccupation of Pulse, Julian Barnes’ third story collection and 17th book. In most cases, these are the relationships of middle-aged, middle-class British people much like Julian Barnes himself, or awkward second attempts bearing the patina of past betrayals, divorces and personal failings." Emily Donaldson Toronto Star