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A review by cat_literary_world
The Only Story by Julian Barnes
3.0
"The only story" is a story of love, but it is also a story of so much more.
This book shows us the love between a young man and a not so young woman. I'm not gonna say she's old, since I never saw her as an old person, but they are, clearly, at different stages in life. The man is a student in colleague, whereas the woman is married and has children (the older one is almost the man's age). In the begging I was having trouble connecting with the characters, and did not love the story. As a person that has not experience this kind of romance, I was having a lot of trouble understanding their problems (such as neighbor's gossiping about them). However, about half the book, I found myself hung upon the story. They end up moving in together, but the woman develops an alcohol problem (or, perhaps, it was there the all time but did not show up). We get to see the man struggle with this. He does not want his friends to know, sometimes he acts as a child (so the age gap becomes evident), but he really loves her. He is incapable of walking away or developing a relationship with another woman.
This book shows us the ups and downs of life, romance is not always beautiful, love demands work and caring, the inicial physical attraction will fade away, but if we really love someone, we will always care about them, no matter what happens.
This book shows us the love between a young man and a not so young woman. I'm not gonna say she's old, since I never saw her as an old person, but they are, clearly, at different stages in life. The man is a student in colleague, whereas the woman is married and has children (the older one is almost the man's age). In the begging I was having trouble connecting with the characters, and did not love the story. As a person that has not experience this kind of romance, I was having a lot of trouble understanding their problems (such as neighbor's gossiping about them). However, about half the book, I found myself hung upon the story. They end up moving in together, but the woman develops an alcohol problem (or, perhaps, it was there the all time but did not show up). We get to see the man struggle with this. He does not want his friends to know, sometimes he acts as a child (so the age gap becomes evident), but he really loves her. He is incapable of walking away or developing a relationship with another woman.
This book shows us the ups and downs of life, romance is not always beautiful, love demands work and caring, the inicial physical attraction will fade away, but if we really love someone, we will always care about them, no matter what happens.