fiveways Our book review from Gary Mepsted...
“THE ONLY STORY” BY JULIAN BARNES JONATHAN CAPE, HARDBACK, £16.99 We’re just over halfway through February as I type these words and yet I can confidently claim that Julian Barnes’ new novel, “The Only Story”, will be my book of the year. This gorgeously written and perfectly observed tale of a young man’s love affair with a married woman more than thirty years his senior is Barnes’ best novel since “Love etc” published in 2000. If this novel doesn’t win the Booker like the rather insipid “The Sense of an Ending”, I shall be more than peeved. Paul, 19, down from university for the summer and staying with his parents in a village on the outskirts of London. At the local tennis club he meets Susan and they quickly embark upon an affair which, perhaps predictably, has devastating consequences for them both. Susan’s husband, Gordon, is both oafish and ogreish in equal measure, a drinker and wife-beater from whom Susan can’t quite separate herself. I shall reveal no more of the actual story for fear of spoiling your reading pleasure and, although the book’s tone is bleak, reading The Only Story is a pleasure for the beauty of
BrightonBrighton PianoPiano Warehouse Warehouse
Brighton The Lowest Prices the South The Lowest PricesPiano in theinWarehouse South The Lowest Prices in the South Piano Warehouse LargestBrighton & Finest Largest &Selection Finest Largest &Prices Finest in the South The Lowest Brighton Piano Warehouse Selection of Pianos in Selection The Lowest Prices in the South Of Pianos in Pianos in Sussex LargestOfSussex & Finest Sussex Largest & Finest Selection • New &Pianos Second-hand Selection in Pianos • Of New & Second-hand Pianos • Grand & Upright Pianos • Grand & Upright Pianos••Digital Digital Pianos Pianos Of Pianos in Sussex • New & Second-hand Pianos • Covers, Stools • Covers, Stools&&Accessories Accessories • Grand & Upright Pianos Sussex • Pianos Wanted • Pianos Wanted- -Best BestBrices Brices Paid Paid
• Digital•Pianos • Concert Hire• •Piano PianoRemovals Removals • Concert Hire New & Second-hand Pianos • New & Second-hand Pianos • Covers, Stools & Accessories are a Traditional Family Run Pianos WeWe are aUpright Traditional Family Run • Grand & Pianos • Digital • Grand & Upright Pianos •Established Digital Pianos Business Established 1970 • Pianos -Stools Best Prices Paid Free Business inin1970 •Wanted Covers, & Accessories Free Local Local • Covers, Stools &With Accessories Delivery With Our Experience&&friendly friendly Delivery&& Our Experience • Concert Hire • Pianos Wanted Best Brices Paid First Tune • Pianos Wanted -Service, Best Brices Paid Service, We Will Find The Right First Tune We Will Find The Right •Removals Concert Hire • Piano Removals • Piano Piano For You • Concert Hire • Piano Removals Piano For You
01273 601989 We areFamily a Traditional Family Run We are a Traditional Run01273 601989 Business Established inEstablished 1970 www.brightonpianos.co.uk Business in 1970 Free Local Free Local www.brightonpianos.co.uk Bonchurch BN2 3PJ & Delivery &Brighton,Delivery With Our Experience &43-45 friendly With Our Experience &Road, friendly 43-45 Bonchurch Road, Brighton, BN2 3PJ Service, We Will Find The First Tune Service, WeRight Will FindFirst TheTune Right Piano For YouPiano For You
We are a Traditional Family Run Business Established in 1970 With Our Experience & friendly Service, We Will Find The Right Piano For You
01273 601989
01273 601989 01273 601989
www.brightonpianos.co.uk www.brightonpianos.co.uk 43-45 Bonchurch Road, Brighton, BN2 3PJ
brightonpianowarehouse.co.uk 43-45 Bonchurch Road, Brighton, BN2 3PJ 43-45 Bonchurch Road, Brighton, BN2 3PJ
the prose and, paradoxically, its often horribly painful honesty. Love, we forget at our peril, can be the most destructive force in the universe. The Only Story is divided into three sections, told in the first, second and third person. This is the only novel I’ve come across where the second person viewpoint actually works, rather than coming across as an exercise in smart-arsery. In Barnes’ deft hands it has the effect of bringing us closer to, and simultaneously pulling us away from, the story and characters. Anyone who has been in love must be familiar with that weird contradictory state of sometimes feeling distant from that person whom we are, at a given moment in time, physically closest to. On a personal note, reading the book was extremely difficult for me. Before I’d reached the end my own five year relationship with a truly remarkable young woman came to a sad and emotionally bloody end. If Barnes had put a foot wrong in the telling of his story my grief would have immediately picked up on his falsity and the novel would have failed utterly. All that happened, though, was that my own choking sense of loss illuminated the novel’s inherent truth about the inscrutable and chaotic nature of human relationships. The Only Story, a masterpiece. Read it. Now.
fiveways directory March 2018
27