Julian Barnes' Levels of Life

'Levels of Life' by Julian Barnes is the only book I've reviewed on this blog that has been labeled as both fiction and non-fiction. Despite being less than 120 pages long, the book defies easy categorization. It is part essay, part fiction, and part autobiography.

The book is divided into three sections. The first section, titled 'The Sin of Height,' is a brief history of the early pioneers of ballooning in the nineteenth century, returning to a familiar theme in Barnes' work about Anglo-French relations. The second section, titled 'On The Level,' is a fictionalized account of a love affair between French actress Sarah Bernhardt and one of the aforementioned ballooning pioneers, Colonel Fred Burnaby. The third section, 'The Loss of Depth,' describes Barnes' own journey through the stages of grief following the death of his thirty-year wife, Pat Kavanagh, in 2008, just a few weeks after she was diagnosed with a brain tumor.


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The evident random and disorganized nature of these respective parts is reminiscent of one of Barnes' earliest works, 'A History of the World in Ten and a Half Chapters.' The first two parts' up and down ballooning and flight metaphors nicely lead on to Barnes' memoir, which, unsurprisingly, is the part that truly defines 'Levels of Life' as a work. It is without a doubt the most potent and, of course, the most personal section. Barnes describes in burningly raw honesty how he considered suicide if his grief became even more unbearable, as well as the tactless comments and inappropriate advice offered by several unnamed acquaintances.

Barnes' writing is as subtle as ever, with painfully accurate observations about human nature. However, I thought the first two sections were more like extended prologues leading up to the "real" subject of the book, namely Barnes' own experience with grief, which has received a lot of attention from other critics. On the other hand, I can't imagine Barnes writing a traditional memoir, so while the structure of the book is unusual, it also seems very appropriate. Overall, 'Levels of Life' deserves to be read in its entirety, but it is the final section that truly distinguishes this book.










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