Rating: 
Summary: The best book I've ever read.
Review: Barnes is a true master of the English language. This book
is an absolute treat to read. Barnes ability to weive seemingly
unrelated subjects such as woodworms, Noah's Ark and golf into a master's thesis on human life seperates him from
any author I've ever read. Truly a "History of (Humans in) the World."
Rating:
Summary: The best book I've ever read.
Review: Barnes is a true master of the English language. This book is an absolute treat to read. Barnes ability to weive seemingly unrelated subjects such as woodworms,
Noah's Ark and golf into a master's thesis on human life seperates him from any author I've ever read. Truly a "History of (Humans in) the World."
Rating:
Summary: Separating the clean from the unclean
Review: Barnes' brilliant History of the World offers little comfort to the reader even though it is bitingly satirical in tone. Barnes' ten and a half chapters are really a series of stories that reflect various places, peoples, and time periods. There is no chronology to these events: indeed, Barnes' look at history need not be chronological as history constantly repeats itself. Each story is connected by recurring themes: separating the clean from the unclean, the presence of woodworm, the importance of Noah's ark, and,in most cases, the maritime setting. Barnes shows the human race doing itself in on countless occasions. Humanity is a perplexing idea: human beings, demonstrates Barnes, have both the ability to love and the ability to annihilate each other. There is a richness in the interpretation of history (as demonstrated in the chapter "Shipwreck") but there is also danger. Man too often rewrites history, bodlerizes it, cleans it up. This may lend to the repetition of man's folly. Religion and reverence are also placed on the table in "History." Barnes shows how religious belief often becomes a tool to separate oneself from the rest. The humorousness of Barnes' "History" is one of its most enduring features. Its ruthlessness separates itself from traditional history books. Its strong prose and unique style separate it from the common rut of fiction.
Rating:
Summary: DON'T MISS IT!
Review: Brilliant, witty, very intelligent... The stories have different moods and subjects, although they are subtily connected by the author, so they are great to be read by their own, and much better once put together. A book to re-read - Very, very entretaining, and at the same time, it speaks about the big subjects: Do we want to go to heaven just to find that the others are not there? What comes after making a golf course in 18 strokes? - New interest added to the book by the fact that the CIA has said this week (20.11.97) that they have REALLY have discovered Noe's Arc, a recurrent reference in the book, one of whose charters (n. 9) is dedicated to the search of the Noe's Arc by an astronaut of the NASA... -
Rating: 
Summary: an eclectic, fragmented, difficult novel - worth reading
Review: Consisting of ten chapters related in theme but not in character, setting, or plot, this novel challenges the bounds of its genre. Its component chapters purport to tell a brief history of human triumph and failure, love, and war; the egotistical tone and the lack of a single coherent, engrossing story make the book a challenge to read and to like. But each chapter is its own microcosm, each telling a story of faith or doubt, love or futility, in its own time and scope, and each written in a unique style (so any reader is bound to enjoy at least part of the book). The book as a whole is well worth the effort of reading its more tedious chapters: it is more interesting, intelligent, and inspiring than the sum of its parts, and the various stories all seem to belong together. While this book is not an engaging read, it is an intellectual adventure.
Rating:
Summary: an eclectic, fragmented, difficult novel - worth reading
Review: Consisting of ten chapters related in theme but not in character, setting, or plot, this novel challenges the bounds of its genre. Its component chapters purport to tell a brief history of human triumph and failure, love, and war; the egotistical tone and the lack of a single coherent, engrossing story make the book a challenge to read and to like. But each chapter is its own microcosm, each telling a story of faith or doubt, love or futility, in its own time and scope, and each written in a unique style (so any reader is bound to enjoy at least part of the book). The book as a whole is well worth the effort of reading its more tedious chapters: it is more interesting, intelligent, and inspiring than the sum of its parts, and the various stories all seem to belong together. While this book is not an engaging read, it is an intellectual adventure.
Rating:
Summary: a mixed bag of mixed blessings
Review: First off let me say that I've only read one other of Barnes' novels (Flaubert's Parrot, which I enjoyed) so I can't really say I'm in a position to really assess what it is Barnes is up to here. I agree with a lot of what Jeffrey R and Michael Mishak had to say in their reviews. I thought they were both extremely inciteful readings. The thing that I found most interesting about this work, I also found the most irritating. This is what is referred to usually as the narrator's point-of-view, the subjective voice. As mentioned in another review, the narration shifts between first and third person primarily. Many of the readers who wrote Amazon articles expressed delight in the first two chapters, dealing with Noah's Ark and the ship hijacking. I thought these were the weakest chapters and almost quit reading the rest of the novel. The wormwood narrator's sophomoric humor struck me as second-rate Thurber material. Only in hindsight do I realize that this is probably about how Barnes probably wanted the narrative to sound. After all, how far removed from a cartoon figure is a talking woodworm? Are we supposed to buy into the concept that woodworms are sentient beings, capable of delivering a revisionist account of biblical history? Well, two chapters later, we read that they were put on trial in late-Rennaissance France for crimes against the church. So apparently some goofy provincial prosecutor had a pretty firm conviction that woodworms are not only sentient, but diabolically cunning as well. So if woodworms can be put on trial for their pernicious schemes, why not narrate a chapter in a modern novel? The second chapter chafed me as well. It struck me initially as a weakly-written rehashing of the Achille Lauro incident. But again, in retrospect I realize that Barnes is giving each narrator a different degree of authorial skill. Each has a distinctive, if sometimes annoying, voice. This chapter is told from the point-of-view of a tv tour-guide. The transformation from pompous, self-inflated wag to altruistic, self-effacing hero is thus subtly , but skillfully presented. As has also been pointed out in other reviews, there is an ebb and flow to this novel, which reflects the ebb and flow of history. History is not all about great events. This novel is not all about great writing. Not all readers are going to take away the same things from this book. Some, obviously, are dazzled by it, declaring Barnes a literary genius. Others see it as an incoherent mish-mash of short stories pretending to be a novel. But Barnes may be saying, isn't this how we view history? Some want to focus on Columbus' marvellous courage in the face of adversity, some want to dwell on his appalling treatment of native peoples. I can't honestly say that I enjoyed every minute of this book. But I don't think Barnes' aim was enjoyment on the part of the reader. Reading, like love, should involve some degree of pain. It's not feeling good at any cost that makes life worth living. Which is precisely the concept that the narrator of the last chapter comes to understand. We don't really want blessings. We want mixed blessings.
Rating:
Summary: A witty glimpse at human history
Review: From the enormous and chaotic tapestry of human history, Barnes opens ten windows and sees what's there. Unifying and conducting the thread are several and unlikely subjects: woodworm, Noah's ark, survival, love, and Man's folly. The chapters are not arranged in any specifical order, chronological or any other. Each one is the snapshot of a particular, relevant or irrelevant moment in mankind's long, convoluted and often tragical history. But each tiny story is told with a great sense of humor. The humor of someone with affection but without delusions about us and our human nature. Noah's Ark travel told by an unlikely passenger; the reaction of a person in front of a terroris attack; the panic of nuclear destruction; religious fanaticism taken to an extreme; etc, each brief moment tells us something about how we are. Oh, and love. The half chapter is a marvelous dissertation on love as a permanent, ambivalent force in history. A masterpiece of monologue, it displays the wit and wisdom of this valuable author. I don't think it exaggerated to say that Barnes's work is a demonstration of literature's always renewable capabilities. His is a literature firmly rooted in the Western tradition, yet possessed with a fresh and humorous look at us humans. Highly recommendable.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: History of the World is entertaining and clever. The images are evocative and will stay with me. This is the first book I have read by Julian Barnes, and it is a keeper. I'm oredering more today. This book is a great break -- best book I've read this year.
Rating:
Summary: A thought-provoking AND entertaining read
Review: I almost felt guilty reading this book, because it was so fun. But then I also felt good that I was nourishing my mind--it's that kind of double blessing that makes this one of my favorite recent books. I've recommended chapters of it (especially the wreck of the Medusa centerpiece) for university classes; I think it's a great candidate for traveling (because the chapters are self-contained, even while they all build into each other); and I'm even fond of the first chapter--and I'm a Sunday school teacher! I got this book (I confess) for a dollar at a used book store, having heard nothing about it but the cover copy--what a delicious random find! I agree with the other reviewers who say that this book will definitely make me search out more Barnes. (Should I give it only four-and-a-half stars, in keeping with the title?)
|
