Reviews

The Only Story by Julian Barnes

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joey1914's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

gipfelglueck's review against another edition

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2.0

Difficult. It's a male story. Parts are very boring, it gets better in the second half. I did not like the main character. Still some of the thoughts about love and truth are quite interesting to read, but my expectations were a lot higher.

isabelb64's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

elewewhy's review against another edition

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4.0

As many another reviews state between the lines: If your primary enjoyment in a novel is plot...this isn't going to be your favorite book.

Theme, structure, ideas, and style are second to none here. Pulling off a book that tells the same story in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person - in a way that isn't gimmicky, but serves the story by giving the sensation of moving Paul further and further from the action - is more ambitious than what 90% of writers even attempt. And it's quite successful.

I'm particularly confused by the many reviews that claim the story is cliched. A theme of the work that comes up again and again is: romance in books and movies tries to tell the same couple of stories, real romance isn't like that. Barnes brings this point up in myriad ways. And I think he delivers on creating a couple that is quite unique. But he also plays with that idea, by allowing (pointing out) that maybe all our love stories aren't as you unique as we'd like to think they are. Maybe I'm becoming too much of a fan. But he's in such control at all times, it's hard for me not to assume that the stuff that feels cliche was meant to feel that way.

Overall, a serious funny book about growing up (a never ending process), love, societal norms, addiction, codependence and a lot of other stuff.