the story follows tony, and his girl friends in college - more particularly veronica and tony. there is one outing where tony takes veronica to meet all the other three friends. tony is also shown as a jealous boyfriend when he finds veronica paying a little too much attention to adrian - considered the most intelligent of the group.
a short while later tony breaks up with veronica and she finds adrian a more congenial companion. adrian seeks tony's permission, which is airily granted. but this is followed by a vicious and ugly letter by tony to both adrian and veronica where tony gives vent to all the anguish, envy and anger at losing veronica to his friend. adrian shortly commits suicide. though the remaining three friends try to stay in touch, the story begins to follow tony and the other two drop off the radar.
tony gets married to margeret, has a daughter susan who also grows up and gets married. tony gets divorced but stays friends with his wife.
forty years after adrian's suicide, tony receives 500 pounds from veronica's dead mother. from this point onwards, the story takes a dramatic and unexpected turn and goes on to become one of the best novels i have ever read.
the cynical humour, that julian barnes brings to the story whether in describing tony and his views on life or the nature of friendship, or on old age is what i think makes the book such a joy to read.
