THE ONLY STORY- SUMMARY

 Summary of the Novel 'The Only Story'.

Part one

- Love story
- description of time, place, and environment
- Social Mellie
- Paul introduce himself and his parents
- Paul went to the tennis club and meeting between paul and Mrs. Susan.
- often meeting of Paul and Susan
- Relation development of Susan and Paul.
- Behaviour of the young generation toward their parents
- Introduction of Eric, Barney, Ian, and Sam
- Description of Susan's family and relationship with her husband. Mr. EP means Mr. Elephant Plants (Mr. Gordon Macleod) Miss G(Grumpy) and Miss NS(Not So) (Martha and Clara.).- Daughter of Susan
- Paul and Susan's visit at Joan's house. Joan's story
- Paul tries to remind where they kissed first, their visit to Wigmore Street; and some sexual equipment
- Susan Told that their relationship is quite different and bother are belonging from different generations.
- Sexual intimacy between Paul and Susan. Susan reveals the reason for her rigidity.
- Some of the descriptions of Eric, barney, lan, and Sam. Eric differed
from Barney, and Ian from Sam and one of them had red hair.
- Tennis Tournament
- Life of Joan,
- Puzzle-solving episode between Paul and Mr. E.P.
- Martha and Clara. Miss G and Miss NS. Miss Grumpy and
Miss Not So (Grumpy). Martha was like her mother physically, tall and
pretty, but with something of her father’s querulous temperament. Clara was
plump and round, but entirely more equable. Miss Grumpy disapproved of
me; Miss Not So was friendly, even interested. Miss Grumpy said things
like, ‘Haven’t you got a home of your own to go to?’ Miss Not So would
ask what I was reading and once, even, showed me some poetry she’d
written. But I wasn’t much of a judge of poetry, then or now, so my
response probably disappointed her. This was my preliminary assessment,
for what it was worth.
- Reference of Oedipus (Oedipus didn’t
want to kill his father and sleep with his mother, did he? Oh yes he did! Oh
no he didn’t! Yes, let’s just leave it as a pantomime exchange.)
- Mr. Jack's life description (‘E.P.’s father was a very
nice man. He was a doctor. He collected furniture. Some of these things
were his.’ She points vaguely at a heavy oak coffer and a grandfather clock
I have never yet heard strike the hour. )
- Paul asked Susan for marriage joyfully and talked about Clara.
- Paul went to dinner at Susan's home and here he had some interesting talk between him and Mr. E.P.
- Talk between Susan and Paul, Susan informs paul that she had seen Winston Churchill.
- Susan's home's description.
- Paul talks about Female sexual Psychology and man's ‘sexual release’,
- pau went to the university. meeting of Paul & Susan at Camber Sands.
- meeting at Tennis club, paul receive latter from the club about membership
- Talk between Paul and Joan.
- Paul talks about the impact of first love in life.
- Susan asked paul about the future.
- Susan went to meet Paul at Sussex and now his friend and Susan know each of them very well.
- Paul gave a long idea about the character of Mr. Macleod.
- Paul went to Joan to inform her that he and Susan sifted London and now there will live together. this part ends with the death of Susan.
"We were together – under the same roof, that is – for ten or more years.
Afterward, I continued to see her regularly. In later years, less often. When
she died, a few years ago, I acknowledged that the most vital part of my life
had finally come to a close. I shall always think of her well, I promised
myself.
And this is how I would remember it all if I could. But I can’t"


PART TWO:-
-The second part of the story begins with the information about how Paul and Susan sifted London and from there how they adjusted things.
-Miss Grumpy's visit at Paul and Susan's home.
-Missionaries visited Paul's house.
- Maurice's visit at Paul's house. Paul and he talked about politics and Pual actually don't like this talk.
- Fight between Paul and Macleod
- Paul's selection in Boxing
- Paul talks about past, six months past memory and now he is about twenty.
- Contemporary event Abortion Law incident and Susan was pregnant, the baby belongs to Paul.
- Susan was beaten by her husband and her mouth had an injury. Susan's front teeth were completely broken.
- After this incident, Paul went to Joan informed his intention to move toward London with Susan.
- Divorce of Susan and Mr. Macleod.
- Susan's sufferings and Paul describe his view about events.
- Susan's overdrinking
- This part only talks about Susan's over-drinking, which is one of the themes in this novel.
- Malta Story and Joan talk with Pual about various kinds of sex and which is good and what might be the various reasons for bad sex.
- Susan's situation become worse and she was hospitalized due to over drinking and here she attacked one nurse.
- This chapter is all about Susan's madness, Paul's other girlfriend Anne, and Anne's attitude toward Susan.
- This part ends with "But you begin to
wonder – not for the first time in your life – if there is something to be said
for feeling less."


Part Three- is the rest of Paul's life told mostly in a mix of a second and third person.

-This Part begins with the second-person narration.
- Now Paul has a different vision for looking at sex, as we know that the novel majorly talks about the theme of memory at the second page narrated reveal the role of memory,
"memory was unreliable and biased, but in which direction? Towards optimism? That made initial sense. You remembered your past in cheerful terms because this validated your existence. You didn’t have to see your life as any kind of triumph – his own had hardly been that – but you did need to tell yourself that it had been interesting, enjoyable, purposeful. Purposeful? That would be pitching it a bit high. Still, an optimistic memory might make it easier to part from life, might soften the pain of extinction."
- headcam of a British soldier in Afghanistan.
- Paul has photographs of Susan about each memory.
- Description of Susan and her way to love Paul.
- Most of the things belong to paul's Dairy entries.
- A few weeks after his row with Anna, he gave up his rented room and
moved back to Henry Road.
- Description of Paul's life and Paul remember his childhood
"at school, being guided by masters through books and
plays in which there was often a conflict between Love and Duty. In those
old stories, innocent but passionate love would run up against the duty
owed to family, church, king, state. Some protagonists won, some lost,
some did both at the same time; usually, tragedy ensued. No doubt in
religious, patriarchal, hierarchical societies, such conflicts continued and
still gave themes to writers. But in the Village? No church-going for his
family. Not much of a hierarchical social structure, unless you counted the
tennis and golf club committees, with their power to expel. Not much
patriarchy, either – not with his mother around. As for family duty: he had
felt no obligation to placate his parents. Indeed, nowadays the onus had
shifted, and it was the parents’ job to accept whatever ‘life choices’ their
child might make. Like running off to a Greek island with Pedro the
hairdresser, or bringing home that gymslip-mother-to-be."
-Love was a Duty in and of itself. You had a Duty to Love, the more so now that it was your central belief system. - Paul's realization toward love.
- This part opens about every character like what might happen with other characters like Mr. Maclaod-his death.
- now we can see that narrator assumes so many things like " desperate for love when he had arrived at the
tennis club? What if Susan, from religious or moral scruple, had
discouraged his interest, and taught him nothing more than tactical
astuteness when playing mixed doubles? What if Macleod had continued to
hold a sexual interest in his wife? None of this might have happened. But
given that it had, then if you wanted to attribute fault, you were straight
away into pre-history, which now, in two of their three cases, had become
inaccessible."
- Talk between Paul and Joan.
- Paul planned to go abroad and he wrote later to Clara to look after Susan but she denied it and Marthe will look after her.
- Further life of Paul, he had visited so many countries.
- Forced to abandon the law, Paul has become an office manager. He never has another serious relationship or children. He eventually settles in a rural village, where he runs the “Frogworth Valley Artisanal Cheese Company” and bakes. Still enraged by the memory of Gordon, he distrusts and despises men.
- Ending part is very interesting, here is the hidden mystery unfolded by the narrator and we came to know what had happened with Susan, the condition of Paul.
- One of the interesting things is the role of memory now Paul totally forget how they kissed, Susan's appearance.
- Eric's story-African woman Ashley.
- End is painful when Paul went to meet Susan met at Hospital.
"None of this happened. I looked at her profile and thought back to some
moments from my own private cinema. Susan in her green-piped tennis
dress, feeding her racket into its press; Susan smiling on an empty beach;
Susan crashed the gears of the Austin and laughed. But after a few
minutes of this, my mind began to wander. I couldn’t keep it on love and
loss, on fun and grief. I found myself wondering how much petrol was left
in the car, and how soon I would have to find a garage; then about how
sales of cheese rolled in ash were suffering a dip, and then about what was
on television that evening. I didn’t feel guilty about any of this; indeed, I
think I am now probably done with guilt. But the rest of my life, such as it
was, and subsequently would be, was calling me back. So I stood up and
looked at Susan one last time; no tear came to my eye. On my way out I
stopped at reception and asked where the nearest petrol station might be.
The man was very helpful."

Thank You.