“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.”
Until I started to put this review together I was unaware I had already read a book by this author – Greatest Hits published after The Versions of Us achieved some success. Looking back at my review of the former I see I had some difficulty remembering who was who across the decades the story spans. I had the same issue with this tale. To start with the cast of characters is manageable but as they embark on marriages, have children and grandchildren, it became confusing. This isn’t helped by the fact three different versions of the key protagonists lives are being told in tandem.
This is, of course, the premise of the tale and one I found intriguing before I started reading. Two teenagers – Eva and Jim – meet due to a random accident while they are students at Cambridge University. Decisions are made in that moment that the author explores as three different versions of how the pair’s lives pan out. In one version they marry. In another they get together briefly but then separate. In the third they go their separate ways immediately. In all of these versions the first encounter has a lasting impact. Their paths and those in their family and social circles criss-cross as the years unfold.
Names are repeated in each version – those who will become husbands and wives as well as lovers, friends, family. When starting to read each chapter it is necessary to remember back to what happened the last time this version was covered. I struggled with continuity. Some characters appear in each but not always in the same role. When children are born more names are added, characters who will be affected, often badly, by decisions made by their adulterous parents.
I presume this is supposed to be a love story tinged with regret for what might have been. Little of what is being recounted is what I would consider love – a state requiring ongoing commitment, loyalty and mutual respect. Neither Eva nor Jim appear likeable due to decisions they make, the hurt they cause. David Katz, a secondary but important character, is described as a narcissist yet acted better than those claiming to be putting their children first.
It wasn’t just the marital unfaithfulness that annoyed me. Eva and Jim are both heavy smokers, indulge in drug taking and, until they are much older, show little longer term consideration for any but themselves. This is portrayed as driven by the way they feel for each other – for the person they see the other as being after brief encounters. Even in the version where they marry their day to day appears to be at a remove from their partner.
The writing style in each chapter is effortlessly engaging but the structure stuttered and too often lost my interest. I wanted to read each story but lost the threads with the constant jumping around between versions. I was irritated by the repetitive unfaithfulness until impending death had to be faced.
There is also a great deal of professional success in areas where this is known to be hard to achieve – writing, acting, art. That none of this brought happiness did at least add a small touch of realism.
A book I nearly gave up on several times and perhaps should have. It was a relief to reach the denouement which, unlike other readers, I found evoked no emotion. Living with regret for what might have been does not sound a healthy way to build a solid marriage. Falling in love with the idea of someone is unlikely to turn out well for anyone.
The Versions of Us is published by Orion Books.
