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elizanderson1066 's review for:
The Versions of Us
by Laura Barnett
At the end of the book, tucked away behind the Acknowledgements, Barnett lists 10 novels which "made her", and nestled among those titles which I haven't heard of let alone read, and the token 'classics' (Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles can be found here - yawn) sits The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger - a book which has remained obstinately in my own top 10, and has the privilege of having been re-read on more than one occasion. Barnett cites the novel as "an inspiring example of how playing around with structure needn't mean sacrificing emotional impact". This is a lovely and fitting description of Niffenegger's triumph of a debut novel, and though I would not say that Barnett's The Versions of Us can be placed on the same pedestal, I can certainly see this inspiration within the pages of this well-constructed story.
Elle Magazine's front cover review describes the book as "One Day meets Sliding Doors" - another distinctly apt description and probably the best and most succinct way to convey the theme of the novel to anyone. The book pans three different "versions" all created from a seemingly insignificant point in the lives of Eva Edelstein and Jim Taylor. Across these perspectives their differing lives progress in both predictable and unexpected ways, though always staying within the central theme - a simple one of love, sacrifice and regret.
The versions are not difficult to keep track of (giving different names to the varying versions of children was a good shout) and the character progression is very well-executed, being so similar between versions yet also so different, to show the huge effect of circumstance on one's outlook and decisions. The jumping between versions also allows the narrative to take large leaps forward, sometimes a decade at a time, which allows expansive story-telling whilst still being able to focus on the minutiae of the character's lives, which help to develop the emotional connection between them and the reader.
It is easy to say that I enjoyed this novel, the writing is immensely readable (made obvious to me by the fact that I finished the second half in one sitting). It makes no comments as far as I can tell on the nature of relationships (except perhaps to show how detrimental it can be to children to grow up within a disharmonious parental relationship), nor tries place great importance on the idea of fate. To me this was merely a good story, well-told.
Elle Magazine's front cover review describes the book as "One Day meets Sliding Doors" - another distinctly apt description and probably the best and most succinct way to convey the theme of the novel to anyone. The book pans three different "versions" all created from a seemingly insignificant point in the lives of Eva Edelstein and Jim Taylor. Across these perspectives their differing lives progress in both predictable and unexpected ways, though always staying within the central theme - a simple one of love, sacrifice and regret.
The versions are not difficult to keep track of (giving different names to the varying versions of children was a good shout) and the character progression is very well-executed, being so similar between versions yet also so different, to show the huge effect of circumstance on one's outlook and decisions. The jumping between versions also allows the narrative to take large leaps forward, sometimes a decade at a time, which allows expansive story-telling whilst still being able to focus on the minutiae of the character's lives, which help to develop the emotional connection between them and the reader.
It is easy to say that I enjoyed this novel, the writing is immensely readable (made obvious to me by the fact that I finished the second half in one sitting). It makes no comments as far as I can tell on the nature of relationships (except perhaps to show how detrimental it can be to children to grow up within a disharmonious parental relationship), nor tries place great importance on the idea of fate. To me this was merely a good story, well-told.