Author: Julian Barnes
Pages: 128
Published: 2013
Challenges: Blogger Summer Reading, I Love Libraries, Non-Fiction
Genre: Non-fiction, Biography, Memoir
Edition: Hardcover
Source: Library
Description: Part history, part fiction, part memoir, Levels of Life is a powerfully personal and unforgettable book, and an immediate classic on the subject of grief.
Thoughts: I picked up this due to a suggestion on Hear...Read This! and while this book is a metaphor about the ups and downs of life (so I found out on a couple of reviews on Goodreads), I also felt the book on different levels while reading the book: from a little bored to being a little confused to being engaged with the book. What I mean by this is that the first two sections left me "scratching my head" as to where this was going and by the end of the book, I really didn't want the book to end and wanted more of Julian Barnes' wonderful words.
There were a number of quotes from the third section that made me stop and write them down, but there were a couple that really struck me:
Grief makes your stomach turn, snatches the breath from you, cuts off the blood supply to the brain; mourning blows you in a new direction. (88)
Sometimes [grief-work] is passive, a wanting for time and pain to disappear; sometimes active, a conscious attention to death and loss and the loved one; sometimes necessarily distractive. (105)Bottom line: If you are fan of Julian Barnes and his work, you probably will enjoy this one or even if you need a short book that that makes you think a bit. Recommended.
Rating: 3.75/5
Pages for 2014: 15,166
If you have read this book, what did you think of it?
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