because he is old enough now to know happiness for what it is: brief and fleeting, not a state to strive for, to seek to live in, but to catch when it comes, and to hold on to for as long as you can.
The Versions Of Us by Laura Barnett is a story about fate and love. What if the moment two people meet never actually happens? Will their paths cross further down the line?
Barnett takes these questions and weaves them through three alternative narratives for Eva and Jim. If you’re thinking of Sliding Doors, you’re on the right track.
Eva meets Jim when her bicycle wheel is punctured by a nail. Jim, a passer-by, offers to fix it. They go for a drink. They fall in love. Eva breaks up with her boyfriend, David, and she and Jim eventually get married.
Eva’s bicycle narrowly misses the nail. Eva and Jim never meet. Eva marries her boyfriend, David.
Eva’s bicycle wheel is punctured by a nail. Jim offers to fix it. They go for a drink. There’s a connection between them, but Eva does what she thinks is the right thing and marries David, her boyfriend.
Throughout the alternate stories Barnett skilfully focuses on the mundane, the domestic and the little things that make sustaining long-term relationships difficult. On the surface not a lot happens, but this is a complex novel and it soon becomes obvious that sometimes the little things are the most important things.
The Versions Of Us is a book best read in the physical form. I read the Kindle edition and found not being able to flick back and forth, when I needed to remind myself which timeline I was in, incredibly frustrating.
Despite struggling to keep track of timelines toward the end, I enjoyed The Versions Of Us, I’m just not sure I’d read it a second time.
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