LEVELS OF LIFE

This short volume consisting of three essays by novelist Julian Barnes is baffling and deeply intimate. The challenge to connect them continues long after the last moving word is read by the author. The works juxtapose a discussion on the first aerial photographer in the nineteenth century, another on a balloonist involved with actress Sarah Bernhardt, and an examination of the author’s own grief as a widower. The last section is profoundly intimate and matter-of-fact at the same time. Clichéd phrases spoken to the bereaved are reflected upon, and the author’s expression of desolation and despair slices to the core. Words of grief like these are highly personal, and hearing them delivered by Barnes himself is the way to experience this book. M.N.T. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2014]