Review: The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett
I think the word lovely is underrated because it perfectly sums up this novel.
This is Barnett’s debut and it hits you like a lovely hug from a stranger, but a kind, lovely maybe slightly inebriated stranger.
The Versions of Us follows the lives of Jim and Eva who meet while at the University of Cambridge. What follows are three interwoven but different stories following their lives in three different versions, three different stories of what could have and might have been.
At first, what seemed like a confusing plot structure flicking between versions 1, 2 and 3, along with so many characters' names to juggle, quickly became a routine, and I found that it did not matter if you’d forgotten which child belonged to Jim or Eva or what version you were in, what mattered were those at the epicentre of the book, what mattered was the falling in and out of love in each version, in each moment that was different or the same.
I think what this book taught me the most wasn't that such small things, like a nail on a road, or a glance at a party, can have such a big impact and a big difference on your life (though this is a prevalent theme) but that, inevitably, there are some things which will always be the same in your life – funerals, wanting to find the person who you want to come home to at the end of each day, family - and if you’re truly meant to be with someone it will happen whether you’re twenty-one or seventy.
I was initially cautious of this book; sometimes books that follow two people who are clearly made for each other and tries to trip them up along the way, fall into the same-old-same-old we've-seen-it-all-before-trap. But not this one. The realness and rawness of each mistake: of the countless, shocking adultery, and the funerals of characters that seemed impenetrable, invinsible, were perfectly situated and sat comfortably in the novel. It didn’t feel too forced and this is something that some writers in their flagging years struggle to develop let alone in the beginning of their career.
If I had to describe this book, I would call it a less complicated The Time Traveller’s Wife and a slightly more complex One Day. The characters are punchy and memorable and make mistakes. And there was a really promising touch and tone to Barnett's work, one I am looking forward to reading in her upcoming work. There’s a reason why it’s a Richard & Judy summer book club read. This really is a novel worth reading. I'd highly recommend this book; it's simply wonderful.
If you want to read my exclusive online interview with Laura Barnett you can do so here.