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rae_rif 's review for:
The Versions of Us
by Laura Barnett
3.8? the idea was cool, but it made it so that i had to start keeping very detailed notes to keep the different story lines straight. it was well thought out the way that certain events (often involving eva's brother anton) had the same setting/time in all three stories. i think i would have been more impressed if the author had dug a bit deeper in terms of the notions of fate/"what's meant to be". what was she trying to say that in all three versions they end up falling in love and spending time together? it was interesting that eva is almost always 'good' (she does cheat on jim once, in one of the versions), but jim is pretty consistently 'not that good', i think he cheats/drinks too much at some point in all the versions. from her POV, it seems to strongly imply that there isn't just one person out there for you, she has real feelings for david, ted, carl and jim. but jim's feelings for helena or bella never seem nearly as real, as if eva was the only one for him.
Version 1
1958: she punctures her bike tire and walks off with jim when he offers to help
1958: they are dating. They both dumped their other SOs
1960: they are married, and move into her parents apt. They are happy, he has some art job and she got hired to work at a local paper.
1962: they buy a quirky pink house in london with a studio for him to paint, they host a dinz party and life seems perfy
1963: they are in NYC and jim cheats on her with a dancer. Her career is taking off (news reporting) and his is not, he feels like a kept husby. Eva is at at the theater to see david in a play and then after party at the algonquin.
1966: london. Eva is doing well at a newspaper, jim is teaching art; only somewhat happily. He wants a kid, but she’s not ready.
1968: london. They have a baby girl named jennifer. Jim thinks about the german art student he slept with who fell for him hard.
1971: london. Jim is drinking all the time, is very resentful of eva’s success, being a dick to her. She’s halfway through her novel and doing very well as a reporter. Jim is clearly unhappy, and eva’s reluctant to hire an au pair b/c she knows about the german student he boned. They dance to wild horses at anton’s 30th party and he apologizes and she hopes things will get better.
1972: bristol. Eva is preggo again, jennifer is 4. She’s about to finish her 2nd book and stoked that jim seems to be pysched for the new kid and out of his funk.
1975 greece.they go for their 15th wedding anniversary and the island is super calming/relaxing/just what they needed. Eve is successful as ever, seems like they wanna make her 2nd book into a movie.
1977 yorkshire. Eva is there for some writing/teaching seminar and ends up boning some hot poet. She’s still angry about the german girl jim boned, and that seems to be a factor in her decision.
1979: bristol. Jims mom vivian has died, he’s drinking a lot. In general things are better after their trip to greece, he has less resentment, but again, the drinking is not ideal.
1985: london. He meets bella hurst, a fellow teacher? Foreshadowing isn’t looking great for him...seems likely he will catch feelings. He’s still drinking 5 drinks a night…
1989: london. Eva’s almost 50, daughter jennifer is getting married. Eva found a postcard from jim to bella, making it clear just how deep his love ran. She confronted bella, who said she wasn’t sorry but hoped it wouldn't be too hard for eva. Eva needs to talk to jim, but it’s looking real grim for them.
1997 london. Jim has a 7 year old daughter named robyn, with bella. He’s already very disillusioned with bella, and she spends nights in her studio instead of home with them. He has a strained relationship with jennifer and daniel,and unclear if he’s showing signs of alzheimer's/being sick...
2001: london. She’s on a boat for anton’s 60th bday. They set her up with an widow named carl who she ends up agreeing to see, surprising herself.
2005: london. Bella has left jim for a guy named andrew, she was open about sleeping with him for at least months, and she took robyn with him. Jim’s been on a major bender until his son daniel comes to rescue him, inviting him to come stay with him and his girlfriend hattie. Jim is pretty sad and lonely and misses eva.
2012 london. Anton has passed. Eva is with carl now, and seemingly stoked on it. She and jim are civil/friendly, but he tells her to come see him soon, he has serious news. She presumes its poor health, but of course agrees to go see him soon.
Version 2
1958: david’s in a play & she likes being part of his world/center of attention
1958: jim’s manic mom come to visit and it’s emotionally rough on him
1960: david and eva marry, she has doubts from the get go; her dad warns her that david will never love her as much as he loves himself.
1961: jim gets a drink with his coworker. He’s back in bristol, living with/taking care of his mom, working as an attorney, pretty miserable and alone.
1962: juliet frank shows up as david’s co-star, is obvs into him. Eva is hosting a party while preggo. She’s basically stopped writing and is getting over david’s “glam” lifestyle.
1963: NYC, after party at the algonquin. She is introduced to jim and they click instantly. He encourages her to keep writing, and she encourages him to get back into painting. She has to leave suddenly though when she gets a call that her daughter is very ill.
1966: bristol. Jim is painting some, and goes to an art show in a warehouse on the water. Most of the art sucks, but he likes a painting by helena. She tells him about the artist colony in cornwall and invites him to join (in bed), and he surprisingly agrees to go for the weekend.
1968: london. David leaves her, while juliet waits in the car outside.
1971: london. Jim is there for his solo exhibit, ends up at anton’s 30th party. He has a 2year old son (dylan!) with helena. He and eva meet at the party and both admit they remember meeting at the algonquin a few years back. Eva is with an older, silver fox reporter named ted.
1971: london. Eva’s daughter sara is a quiet girl, similar to herself. Eva and ted have been dating for a year, and eva is fully divorced. but she goes to see jim’s exhibit. She plans to marry ted and move to france with him, and therefore does not accept jim’s offer to grab dinz after the exhibit. She makes the responsible choice.
1972: paris. Eva is with ted and her daughter sarah. Eva is happy with ted, and mostly ok in paris, though not writing much
1976: paris/london. Eva is enjoying teaching, but her mom is in hospital.
1977: cornwall. It’s xmas, and jim’s mom is not doing well. Jim and helena are doing ok, seems like they are emerging from a bad patch.
1979: paris. Eva reads in the paper tha jims mom committed the sui. She writes him a postcard, but doesn’t end up mailing it. Her daughter sarah performs guitain in a school concert. Eva seems pretty content.
1986: rome. Ted seems to have had a mini stroke, though that’s not what they call it. They’ve been living in italy for 4 yrs. Doesn’t seem like eva is working, but she does seem truly happy with ted.
1990: cornwall. Helena left him for a woman named iris a few years ago, taking their son dylan with her. Jims art is doing well, he’s better off financially than ever before. He’s very proud of dylan (now 21). He has thoughts of what could have been with eva, even though they spent very little time together. Caitlyn is his painting assistant whom he also casually bones, he seems to like that arrangement.
1998: london. Eva cares for ted who def seems like he had a stroke. He can’t speak, and seems to be bedridden. She writes an advice column, but life seems quite sad.
2001: cornwall. Jim is going to go to anton’s 60th bday party is looking forward to seeing eva. Ted died a year ago, and eva’s book on being a caretaker was successful. However, jim’s granddaughter is born early so he skips the party and goes up to scotland instead.
2007 rome. Sarah comes to visit eva with her son, pierre. Eva has recently bought a gorg house right outside rome, and she seems pretty happy, though obvs misses ted. She seems to long for jim, though she recognizes how absurd that is considering how little she ever knew him.
2012: london. Jim goes to anton’s funeral, and he and eva admit they have always had an unconventional connection. She asks him to get coffee, and though he feels he should say no since he’s presumably dying, he says yes.
Version 3
1958: she falls off her bike, but walks away with jim
1958: she broke up with david and dated jim for about 6 weeks. They were super into each other, but she was preggo with david’s kid. She knew if given the chance, jim would chose her and the baby, but she felt like that was wrong, so she left him and went back to david. David agrees to marry her and raise the kid.
1960: eva is not that stoked to be a mostly stay at home mom. David isn’t around much, and her friend penelope can see she’s unhappy, offers to put in a good word for her at the newspaper.
1961: jim thinks he sees eva in bristol and follows her, but it’s someone else. He wanted to tell her that she made the wrong choice and that he would have chosen her/david’s baby.
1963: NYC/Algonquin. Jim and eva meet up unplanned at the after party. It’s tense/awkward but there are obvs still feelings. She slips him a not inviting him to meet her the next day the library, but ultimately she stands him up.
1966: for her mom’s bday, eva plans a vacay on the shore with mom (miriam) and daughter rebecca. While there, she admits to her mom that she’s unhappy in her marriage and mom encourages her to leave david.
1969: cornwall. He’s mostly happy with helena, working on his art a bunch. He painted one picture of eva which caused some strife with helena, but they got through it. He’s happy.
1971: london. He and eva have harsh words. She has 2 kids now, when she was going to leave david she ended up getting preggo again, she now has a 4 year old boy named sam and a 12 year old daughter, jim has a young daughter named sofie. Jim’s art is doing well, he has a solo exhibit, eva is still sorta reviewing manuscripts. David and her are still technically married, but he basically lives in LA with juliet and sees her only a few times a year. After the harsh words, jim and eva end up making out (maybe more?)
1971: london. Eva goes to jim’s exhibit, which includes a portrait of her. She joins him for dinz and they decide to run away somewhere together. Jim feels like all those years without her meant nothing, and he is finally waking up.
1973: cornwall. Jim gives an interview at the artists colony, which you know will cause dramz later. He can’t wait to get back to london, who he’s been having an affair with for 2 yrs.
1976: worcestershire. Eva’s mom miriam has passed away. Jim is still with helena, though they got kicked out of the colony 3 yrs aga after the interview. He thinks he’s nicer to helena b/c of the joy eva brings him, i think it’s just called guilt.
1977: LA. rebecca is 18 and living out there. Eva tells david it’s over, and he agrees and wishes her well with jim; seems that he’s always known.
1979: bristol. Jims mom is dead .he and eva are together, along with his daughter sophie and her kids rebecca and sam. Helena is appar boning hella young dudes, sophie seems angry at both her parents. Jim is super close with stephen, his besty who has stood by him all this time.
1988: sussex: jims daughter sophie is super morose/apathetic towards everything. But other than that, he seems very happy at his life with eva.
1995: london. Eva goes to see david in hamlet, their daughter rebecca is somewhat peripherally in theater also. David had divorced juliet and remarried again. For a hot minute there between women, she had invited david to sussex for a weekend but it went awfully, he drank a bunch and said he never should have left eva go. Jim’s sculptures aren’t selling, and they are concerned about sophie who’s 25 and doesn’t have her shit together. But the foundation with jim is LEGIT, and she’s working on a book of short stories, mostly about love.
2000 sussex. Sophie has been MIA for 6 weeks and the last time jim saw her it was clear she was on drugs. He feels like he has been a bad father and it’s his fault, but eva calms him down.
2001: london. Sophie claims to be clean and has a daughter, but has cut off all ties with her parents and refused to come to anton’s 60th bday party.
2008: cornwall. Celebrating jim’s 70th bday. Sophie and her daughter alice are there, and all is pretty great for jim. Eva even got howard to come, which was a nice surprise. He doesn’t seem sad about turning 70, but rather appreciative of all that he has.
2012 london. At anton’s funeral, jim agrees to have chemo for an additional 10 months of life, or so. He and eva are just as in love as ever.
Version 1
1958: she punctures her bike tire and walks off with jim when he offers to help
1958: they are dating. They both dumped their other SOs
1960: they are married, and move into her parents apt. They are happy, he has some art job and she got hired to work at a local paper.
1962: they buy a quirky pink house in london with a studio for him to paint, they host a dinz party and life seems perfy
1963: they are in NYC and jim cheats on her with a dancer. Her career is taking off (news reporting) and his is not, he feels like a kept husby. Eva is at at the theater to see david in a play and then after party at the algonquin.
1966: london. Eva is doing well at a newspaper, jim is teaching art; only somewhat happily. He wants a kid, but she’s not ready.
1968: london. They have a baby girl named jennifer. Jim thinks about the german art student he slept with who fell for him hard.
1971: london. Jim is drinking all the time, is very resentful of eva’s success, being a dick to her. She’s halfway through her novel and doing very well as a reporter. Jim is clearly unhappy, and eva’s reluctant to hire an au pair b/c she knows about the german student he boned. They dance to wild horses at anton’s 30th party and he apologizes and she hopes things will get better.
1972: bristol. Eva is preggo again, jennifer is 4. She’s about to finish her 2nd book and stoked that jim seems to be pysched for the new kid and out of his funk.
1975 greece.they go for their 15th wedding anniversary and the island is super calming/relaxing/just what they needed. Eve is successful as ever, seems like they wanna make her 2nd book into a movie.
1977 yorkshire. Eva is there for some writing/teaching seminar and ends up boning some hot poet. She’s still angry about the german girl jim boned, and that seems to be a factor in her decision.
1979: bristol. Jims mom vivian has died, he’s drinking a lot. In general things are better after their trip to greece, he has less resentment, but again, the drinking is not ideal.
1985: london. He meets bella hurst, a fellow teacher? Foreshadowing isn’t looking great for him...seems likely he will catch feelings. He’s still drinking 5 drinks a night…
1989: london. Eva’s almost 50, daughter jennifer is getting married. Eva found a postcard from jim to bella, making it clear just how deep his love ran. She confronted bella, who said she wasn’t sorry but hoped it wouldn't be too hard for eva. Eva needs to talk to jim, but it’s looking real grim for them.
1997 london. Jim has a 7 year old daughter named robyn, with bella. He’s already very disillusioned with bella, and she spends nights in her studio instead of home with them. He has a strained relationship with jennifer and daniel,and unclear if he’s showing signs of alzheimer's/being sick...
2001: london. She’s on a boat for anton’s 60th bday. They set her up with an widow named carl who she ends up agreeing to see, surprising herself.
2005: london. Bella has left jim for a guy named andrew, she was open about sleeping with him for at least months, and she took robyn with him. Jim’s been on a major bender until his son daniel comes to rescue him, inviting him to come stay with him and his girlfriend hattie. Jim is pretty sad and lonely and misses eva.
2012 london. Anton has passed. Eva is with carl now, and seemingly stoked on it. She and jim are civil/friendly, but he tells her to come see him soon, he has serious news. She presumes its poor health, but of course agrees to go see him soon.
Version 2
1958: david’s in a play & she likes being part of his world/center of attention
1958: jim’s manic mom come to visit and it’s emotionally rough on him
1960: david and eva marry, she has doubts from the get go; her dad warns her that david will never love her as much as he loves himself.
1961: jim gets a drink with his coworker. He’s back in bristol, living with/taking care of his mom, working as an attorney, pretty miserable and alone.
1962: juliet frank shows up as david’s co-star, is obvs into him. Eva is hosting a party while preggo. She’s basically stopped writing and is getting over david’s “glam” lifestyle.
1963: NYC, after party at the algonquin. She is introduced to jim and they click instantly. He encourages her to keep writing, and she encourages him to get back into painting. She has to leave suddenly though when she gets a call that her daughter is very ill.
1966: bristol. Jim is painting some, and goes to an art show in a warehouse on the water. Most of the art sucks, but he likes a painting by helena. She tells him about the artist colony in cornwall and invites him to join (in bed), and he surprisingly agrees to go for the weekend.
1968: london. David leaves her, while juliet waits in the car outside.
1971: london. Jim is there for his solo exhibit, ends up at anton’s 30th party. He has a 2year old son (dylan!) with helena. He and eva meet at the party and both admit they remember meeting at the algonquin a few years back. Eva is with an older, silver fox reporter named ted.
1971: london. Eva’s daughter sara is a quiet girl, similar to herself. Eva and ted have been dating for a year, and eva is fully divorced. but she goes to see jim’s exhibit. She plans to marry ted and move to france with him, and therefore does not accept jim’s offer to grab dinz after the exhibit. She makes the responsible choice.
1972: paris. Eva is with ted and her daughter sarah. Eva is happy with ted, and mostly ok in paris, though not writing much
1976: paris/london. Eva is enjoying teaching, but her mom is in hospital.
1977: cornwall. It’s xmas, and jim’s mom is not doing well. Jim and helena are doing ok, seems like they are emerging from a bad patch.
1979: paris. Eva reads in the paper tha jims mom committed the sui. She writes him a postcard, but doesn’t end up mailing it. Her daughter sarah performs guitain in a school concert. Eva seems pretty content.
1986: rome. Ted seems to have had a mini stroke, though that’s not what they call it. They’ve been living in italy for 4 yrs. Doesn’t seem like eva is working, but she does seem truly happy with ted.
1990: cornwall. Helena left him for a woman named iris a few years ago, taking their son dylan with her. Jims art is doing well, he’s better off financially than ever before. He’s very proud of dylan (now 21). He has thoughts of what could have been with eva, even though they spent very little time together. Caitlyn is his painting assistant whom he also casually bones, he seems to like that arrangement.
1998: london. Eva cares for ted who def seems like he had a stroke. He can’t speak, and seems to be bedridden. She writes an advice column, but life seems quite sad.
2001: cornwall. Jim is going to go to anton’s 60th bday party is looking forward to seeing eva. Ted died a year ago, and eva’s book on being a caretaker was successful. However, jim’s granddaughter is born early so he skips the party and goes up to scotland instead.
2007 rome. Sarah comes to visit eva with her son, pierre. Eva has recently bought a gorg house right outside rome, and she seems pretty happy, though obvs misses ted. She seems to long for jim, though she recognizes how absurd that is considering how little she ever knew him.
2012: london. Jim goes to anton’s funeral, and he and eva admit they have always had an unconventional connection. She asks him to get coffee, and though he feels he should say no since he’s presumably dying, he says yes.
Version 3
1958: she falls off her bike, but walks away with jim
1958: she broke up with david and dated jim for about 6 weeks. They were super into each other, but she was preggo with david’s kid. She knew if given the chance, jim would chose her and the baby, but she felt like that was wrong, so she left him and went back to david. David agrees to marry her and raise the kid.
1960: eva is not that stoked to be a mostly stay at home mom. David isn’t around much, and her friend penelope can see she’s unhappy, offers to put in a good word for her at the newspaper.
1961: jim thinks he sees eva in bristol and follows her, but it’s someone else. He wanted to tell her that she made the wrong choice and that he would have chosen her/david’s baby.
1963: NYC/Algonquin. Jim and eva meet up unplanned at the after party. It’s tense/awkward but there are obvs still feelings. She slips him a not inviting him to meet her the next day the library, but ultimately she stands him up.
1966: for her mom’s bday, eva plans a vacay on the shore with mom (miriam) and daughter rebecca. While there, she admits to her mom that she’s unhappy in her marriage and mom encourages her to leave david.
1969: cornwall. He’s mostly happy with helena, working on his art a bunch. He painted one picture of eva which caused some strife with helena, but they got through it. He’s happy.
1971: london. He and eva have harsh words. She has 2 kids now, when she was going to leave david she ended up getting preggo again, she now has a 4 year old boy named sam and a 12 year old daughter, jim has a young daughter named sofie. Jim’s art is doing well, he has a solo exhibit, eva is still sorta reviewing manuscripts. David and her are still technically married, but he basically lives in LA with juliet and sees her only a few times a year. After the harsh words, jim and eva end up making out (maybe more?)
1971: london. Eva goes to jim’s exhibit, which includes a portrait of her. She joins him for dinz and they decide to run away somewhere together. Jim feels like all those years without her meant nothing, and he is finally waking up.
1973: cornwall. Jim gives an interview at the artists colony, which you know will cause dramz later. He can’t wait to get back to london, who he’s been having an affair with for 2 yrs.
1976: worcestershire. Eva’s mom miriam has passed away. Jim is still with helena, though they got kicked out of the colony 3 yrs aga after the interview. He thinks he’s nicer to helena b/c of the joy eva brings him, i think it’s just called guilt.
1977: LA. rebecca is 18 and living out there. Eva tells david it’s over, and he agrees and wishes her well with jim; seems that he’s always known.
1979: bristol. Jims mom is dead .he and eva are together, along with his daughter sophie and her kids rebecca and sam. Helena is appar boning hella young dudes, sophie seems angry at both her parents. Jim is super close with stephen, his besty who has stood by him all this time.
1988: sussex: jims daughter sophie is super morose/apathetic towards everything. But other than that, he seems very happy at his life with eva.
1995: london. Eva goes to see david in hamlet, their daughter rebecca is somewhat peripherally in theater also. David had divorced juliet and remarried again. For a hot minute there between women, she had invited david to sussex for a weekend but it went awfully, he drank a bunch and said he never should have left eva go. Jim’s sculptures aren’t selling, and they are concerned about sophie who’s 25 and doesn’t have her shit together. But the foundation with jim is LEGIT, and she’s working on a book of short stories, mostly about love.
2000 sussex. Sophie has been MIA for 6 weeks and the last time jim saw her it was clear she was on drugs. He feels like he has been a bad father and it’s his fault, but eva calms him down.
2001: london. Sophie claims to be clean and has a daughter, but has cut off all ties with her parents and refused to come to anton’s 60th bday party.
2008: cornwall. Celebrating jim’s 70th bday. Sophie and her daughter alice are there, and all is pretty great for jim. Eva even got howard to come, which was a nice surprise. He doesn’t seem sad about turning 70, but rather appreciative of all that he has.
2012 london. At anton’s funeral, jim agrees to have chemo for an additional 10 months of life, or so. He and eva are just as in love as ever.