The Only Story
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By Julian Barnes
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2 reviews
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
Would you rather love the more, and suffer the more; or love the less, and suffer the less? That is, I think, finally, the only real question.
First love has lifelong consequences, but Paul doesn’t know anything about that at nineteen. At nineteen, he’s proud of the fact his relationship flies in the face of social convention.
As he grows older, the demands placed on Paul by love become far greater than he could possibly have foreseen.
Tender and wise, The Only Story is a deeply moving novel by one of Britain’s greatest mappers of the human heart.
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Love the way JB writes, although this one is not as good as his a Booker Prize winner, The Sense of an Ending, it’s nonetheless a great story. Young man falls in love with much older woman, and through this life Paul’s attachment to Susan, never really leaves him. It’s a tale of falling in love and how love changes over time, and how relationships are the most important things! The choices we make - to love more and risk being hurt more, or to love less and be hurt less! Or do we really have a choice? Thought-provoking stuff!
An absolute gem of a book. Beautifully written, perfectly pitched, wry, painful and gut-wrenchingly sad. I was captivated from the start. The characters are all people you know and each anecdote is perfectly located in time with seemingly inconsequential references to things or events. His descriptions of everything from emotions to actions are searingly accurate yet feel effortlessly executed. Can't fault this book in any way. Highly recommended.
