Fiction The Only Story by Julian Barnes review – an exquisite look at love Barnes deftly explores time and memory in his latest novel, about an older man recalling the romance that defined his life Game to love … mixed doubles leads to the daring affair in The Only Story. Our new hero, Paul, places himself nearer the truth-telling memoirist Barnes than his fictional predecessor, the fascinatingly unreliable Tony Webster in The Sense of an Ending. Photograph: Roberto Ricciuti/Getty ImagesNot that the older Paul allows us to exult in his bravery or the romance. All this means that the exquisite moments – and there are many – in The Only Story come from its psychological acuity, especially about how we remember. It all seems terribly sad, and horribly true: a definitive account of how romantic love becomes trapped in its own frame and empties itself of colour and meaning.

Source: The Guardian January 26, 2018 07:30 UTC