Waiting for the new rug that we ordered for our living room might be one of the best times to write a blog post (if you're wondering: it is red, very bold, so I am super excited and can't wait till it's here!)
On holiday in Austria I finished The Only Story by Julian Barnes. I received this book with my Christmas presents from work and had quite high expectations, as a friend of mine is a fan of the author. Therefore it came as a surprise that I actually found this book boring! It don't say this often about books, but I really didn't enjoy it. I did finish it, because I expected a change in the story, as Julian Barnes is supposed to be this very gifted writer. Unfortunately, when I reached the last page of the book, it was still boring. I do however, still think that Julian Barnes is very gifted. Read on if you want to know why!
Title: The Only Story
Author: Julian Barnes
First published: 2018, Jonathan Cape
My edition: 2018, Jonathan Cape
Cover: Strange at first sight with the crossed out typed words, but when you read the book, halfway you will get the meaning. It has a dust jacket, which is a minus for me (see also the review on Pride and Prejudice here). Furthermore, the cover is far too stiff, you can hardly open the book.
Innerwork: Typeset in 11.5/14 pt Bembo, an agreeable font, size and line spacing. Good colour of paper as well (I never like the extremely white pages that make you grasp for your sun glasses).
Compatability with reading on the train: Awful, it is not possible to hold this book open with only one hand without getting a cramped thump. With two hands it is still hard to keep it open.
Synopsis: Paul, nineteen years old, living with his parents in a small village in England, falls in love for the first time. At his age, he is very happy that his relationship flies in the face of social convention, as his love is a married older woman, called Susan. They are a silent scandal and get kicked out of the tennis club where they met. Their relationship turns out not to be a kind of fling, but a long term one, and they stay together for over a decade. They face many problems, of which the (aggressive) husband is just the first.
My opinion: As already mentioned above, I was really bored while reading this book. I kept hoping for some turning point, which eventually came during the second part of the book, when you find out that not everything in the relation between Paul and Susan is what it seemed like in the third part of the book. It's just that nothing happens and Paul goes on and on with his analyses of almost everything, which is really tiring.
What I did like were the changes in perspective. The first part of the story, where Paul tells how he met Susan and what great times they had, is a first person narrative. A few pages in the second part, it changes to second person (which is really rare). The third person narrative is introduced in the third part of the book, but sometimes the story switches back to first or second person. This stroke me as really interesting, and a comment is made about it in the story itself, in the third part of the book:
To me, this playing with the perspective that Julian Barnes does, made the book worthwhile. It made me think about the story more, but it did not distract me from the story, which is good. For me, the parts in first person are the events that Paul wants to remember, the things he enjoyed. The events told in second person are the bad things, about Susan's husband, about too much alcohol. Those are the things that happen in other people's lifes, not it yours. So he distances himself from him. It is a sort of excuse. If you were me, if this happened to you, you would have done this, reacted that way. Right? And in the end, when he is older and looks back at what happened, he views his life in the third person, as he says himself.
Usually, when I think a book is boring, I would not pick up another book by that author. However, although I didn't like the story at all, this book made me curious about other things that Julian Barnes wrote. He didn't just write down a sequence of events, but he thought carefully about how the character must have felt, how different events shaped this person, and intertwined that in the story. And I think that makes a great writer.
Favourite character: Joan, a friend of Susan, which also becomes Paul's friend. A straightforward, gin drinking, cat and dog person.
P.S. The new rug is great! It is less red than expected, made of hemp and recycled leather. It smells good and looks pretty. We just have to lose our one pink cushion, but I think we can manage that ;)
On holiday in Austria I finished The Only Story by Julian Barnes. I received this book with my Christmas presents from work and had quite high expectations, as a friend of mine is a fan of the author. Therefore it came as a surprise that I actually found this book boring! It don't say this often about books, but I really didn't enjoy it. I did finish it, because I expected a change in the story, as Julian Barnes is supposed to be this very gifted writer. Unfortunately, when I reached the last page of the book, it was still boring. I do however, still think that Julian Barnes is very gifted. Read on if you want to know why!
Title: The Only Story
Author: Julian Barnes
First published: 2018, Jonathan Cape
My edition: 2018, Jonathan Cape
 |
| Notice the awful apartment couch at the background ;) |
Innerwork: Typeset in 11.5/14 pt Bembo, an agreeable font, size and line spacing. Good colour of paper as well (I never like the extremely white pages that make you grasp for your sun glasses).
Compatability with reading on the train: Awful, it is not possible to hold this book open with only one hand without getting a cramped thump. With two hands it is still hard to keep it open.
Synopsis: Paul, nineteen years old, living with his parents in a small village in England, falls in love for the first time. At his age, he is very happy that his relationship flies in the face of social convention, as his love is a married older woman, called Susan. They are a silent scandal and get kicked out of the tennis club where they met. Their relationship turns out not to be a kind of fling, but a long term one, and they stay together for over a decade. They face many problems, of which the (aggressive) husband is just the first.
My opinion: As already mentioned above, I was really bored while reading this book. I kept hoping for some turning point, which eventually came during the second part of the book, when you find out that not everything in the relation between Paul and Susan is what it seemed like in the third part of the book. It's just that nothing happens and Paul goes on and on with his analyses of almost everything, which is really tiring.
What I did like were the changes in perspective. The first part of the story, where Paul tells how he met Susan and what great times they had, is a first person narrative. A few pages in the second part, it changes to second person (which is really rare). The third person narrative is introduced in the third part of the book, but sometimes the story switches back to first or second person. This stroke me as really interesting, and a comment is made about it in the story itself, in the third part of the book:
But nowadays, the raucousness of the first person within him was stilled. It was as if he viewed, and lived, his life in the third person. Which allowed him to assess it more accurately, he believed.
To me, this playing with the perspective that Julian Barnes does, made the book worthwhile. It made me think about the story more, but it did not distract me from the story, which is good. For me, the parts in first person are the events that Paul wants to remember, the things he enjoyed. The events told in second person are the bad things, about Susan's husband, about too much alcohol. Those are the things that happen in other people's lifes, not it yours. So he distances himself from him. It is a sort of excuse. If you were me, if this happened to you, you would have done this, reacted that way. Right? And in the end, when he is older and looks back at what happened, he views his life in the third person, as he says himself.
Usually, when I think a book is boring, I would not pick up another book by that author. However, although I didn't like the story at all, this book made me curious about other things that Julian Barnes wrote. He didn't just write down a sequence of events, but he thought carefully about how the character must have felt, how different events shaped this person, and intertwined that in the story. And I think that makes a great writer.
Favourite character: Joan, a friend of Susan, which also becomes Paul's friend. A straightforward, gin drinking, cat and dog person.
P.S. The new rug is great! It is less red than expected, made of hemp and recycled leather. It smells good and looks pretty. We just have to lose our one pink cushion, but I think we can manage that ;)
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