“They, their: he knew he must start getting used to the singular pronoun instead. Irrespective of the fact, it’s a beautiful ode to love and marriage. Conjecture is that Marriage Lines is a semi-autobiographical story of Julian Barnes. Marriage Lines ticks all the boxes in the requisites of a great story. It’s soul-stirring, philosophical, and romantic. It’s probably one of my most favourite conclusions in a short story. Silence told him that Calum found such talk offensive, to himself, to Flora, to the islanders generally.”īarnes is excellent in building vivid imagery with his words and pulling you, the reader, into his imaginative world as we join the characters in their adventures of hiking, birdwatching, pebble hunting, or clam-digging.īy the time you come to the finish line, you are bound to be choked just like the protagonist himself. Stupid because he hadn’t really meant it, more stupid because it was presumptuous. Then it turns out either there’s nothing there, or something that cuts your hand open if you aren’t bloody careful.’ ‘Oh, waiting for something to pop out of the sand. “As he handed Calum more salt, and saw the oven glove poised in anticipation, he found himself saying, man to man, ‘Bit like marriage, isn’t it?’Ĭalum frowned slightly. And the other is a modern-day, adventurous couple with a practical but opposing notion of marriage. There are two starkly opposite couples in the story – one is orthodox religious with sacramental and practical notions of marriage. And where there’s love, can grief be left behind. It is a story about human relationships and love. The story is about a man who visits an island and recollects his memories. It was the only way, so far, that he knew how.” “He told it without tears, in a neutral voice, as if it might have happened to someone else. The story is narrated in a restrained way, much like its protagonist.

Actually, it has an old-world charm quality in the writing style that’s juxtaposed to the modern age. Marriage Lines by Julian Barnes is an elegant and modern short story. Julian Barnes is an award-winning author of several short stories, essays, and novels, including the 011 Man Booker Prize winning novel The Sense of an Ending. You can read the short story online here.

Today, we will read Marriage Lines by Julian Barnes.

You can visit my site daily for a short story with analysis and participate in the discussion in the comments. Each day, I bring you a ‘Read of the Day,’ a short story in English, so that we can indulge in the joy of reading. This year, I invite you to read and discuss short stories with me.

SOUL SOJOURN by Tina Sequeira