Talking It Over is a novel by Julian Barnes published in 1991, it won the Prix Femina Étranger the following year.It concerns a love triangle in which each of the three people concerned (and occasionally others) take it in turns to tell the story from their perspective using first person narrative. Stuart and Oliver have been best friends since school but are opposite in character, Stuart is insecure and slightly nerdy, Oliver is a flamboyant loser prone to elaborate witticisms.