The Only Story

At the beginning I wasn't much of a fan of that story. But the more I read the more I liked the style of the author as well as the plot itself. I was able to relate to the characers, especially to the main protagonist Paul. I can very much recommend the book if you're into 'deeper' topics although you don't have to expect a classic romantic novel.

Das Buch ist eine Offenbarung und von der ersten bis zur letzen Seite ein purer Lesegenuss. Barnes reflektiert darüber, was uns über das Leben hinweg fundamental beschäftigt: Die einzige, wahre Liebe erfahren die meisten - wenn überhaupt - nur einmal. Der Protagonist blickt auf sein Leben zurück und schildert einfühlsam und reflektiert seine Lebensgeschichte, die von seiner ersten grossen Liebe geprägt ist. Das Buch ist berührend und sprachlich ein Meisterwerk. Kaum zu glauben, dass es nicht autobiographisch ist...

“A tale as old as time”, they’re saying, and Julian Barnes makes no other claim when he opens his book with Samuel Johnson’s definition of a novel: “A small tale, generally of love.” It sounds so simple, almost insignificant in its “smallness”, and rather banal. A story that has been told many times before, that is being told again and again and again, ad infinitum. What his protagonist does claim is that everybody has just one story, one that is making all the difference; it is the only story. Looking back on his life as an elderly man, he is ready to share all the wisdom he’s accumulated: “Strange how, when you are young, you owe no duty to the future, but when you are old, you owe a duty to the past.” A past that isn’t just about love, but also about pride, shame, living with consequences, sadness, and possibly closure. “It was a question of what heartbreak is, and how exactly the heart breaks, and what is left of it afterwards.” How one starts feeling protective of young lovers: “I want to protect them from what the world is probably going to do to them, and from what they will probably do to one another.” A romance? Yes, there is some of that, but somehow the sheer banality of most people’s lives is pushed to the foreground. The point is that Julian Barnes is so very good at writing about the seemingly banal (and also the tragic) with such clarity and elegance and is so convincing at capturing life’s basic truths. One cannot help but love “listening” to his musings.