Reviews

The Only Story by Julian Barnes

ps_a22's review against another edition

4.0

This novel was a beautiful love story. It had the touch of reality that most love stories lack, and explored love in a way I didn’t expect. The cover looks absolutely lovely, creating an ever present connection with the storyline and the cover of the book, showing that experience can form a person’s outer cover. It was humorous, heart wrenching and confusing in the best way and I absolutely loved it. The only thing I didn’t quite get was the change in from first person, second person to third person. A touching, searingly honest and wise mapping of love.

rosekk's review against another edition

3.0

I am struggling to express my opinion of this story - I have formed it, but it's not lending itself to articulation at the moment. I liked that it followed a relatively unconventional situation (or at least different from the kind of relationships I am used to reading in stories), and I appreciated it's handling of memory and judgement of people... but I did not love this story. Something about the narration struck me as off. I don't really have an adequate reason as to why, because I quit liked some of the obvious weird things about it - the change from 1st to 3rd person (although I didn't like the way it was alluded to and explained a few paragraphs into the change), and the shifting of tenses. Occasionally I read a book whose tone doesn't quite agree with me. I think here is a case of that, although usually I wind up hating those books, and I don't hate this one. Either it's it's a better book, for all it rubbed me up the wrong way, or I'm becoming more tolerant of books that don't sit right with me.

tbim's review

4.0

One of those books one enjoys while reading, not realizing how profoundly sad it really is until the end.

huongnvo's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

ritapontotomas's review against another edition

2.0

Foi o “Sense of an ending” que enformou a minha relação com o Julian Barnes. Receio que este “The Only Story” não lhe repita os feitos.

natastop's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

ezzi_x's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective 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? Yes

3.0

zelinerrr's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

theclairac's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

lauranoonz's review against another edition

2.0

I have always been a fan of Julian Barnes and haven't had read his books in a very long time, I was excited to read this one.

My general feeling is that the storyline is not particularly novel for Julian Barnes fans which makes the book less exciting to read. Of course, Barnes' mastery in describing the complexity of human emotions and memory is evident and somewhat comforting if you haven't read Barnes in a while, which is perhaps the only reason I read the book very quickly. It was a simple and easy read, but not a book that I would strongly recommend to others, even re-reading other Barnes books seem like a better option when on one is missing Barnes' writing. Barnes has written far superior books, I'd recommend those.