Rating: 
Summary: This tale about tales is a whopper!
Review: John Barth is one of America's greatest writers, a story teller on par with Twain and Steinbeck, Boyle and Bellow. As far as I can tell, however, none of them ever wrote a story about story telling, which is what Barth has done in this fantastical epic. Simon Behler (if that is, in fact, the name of the identity- and perspective-challenged narrator), for whom water has always played some central role in his life, appears to have swum through a rip in the time/space and reality/fantasy continuum, where he ultimately arrives at the doorstep of the fabled Sinbad The Sailor, and his captivating daughter Yasmin. Invited in, he and Sinbad swap tales of their respective, fantastic voyages in front of myriad household members and prospective investors for Sinbad's proposed seventh voyage, all of whom doubt the origins and suspect the motives of our narrator. Except, of course, for the delicious Yasmin, who, it turns out, has a mysterious and inexorable connection to Simon.While this is a tale filled with mystery and adventure, love and sex, betrayal and death, and an endless supply of conflict, the underlying theme is the role that stories play in our lives, both as literal archives and moral instruction. Barth's trademark wordplay makes every passage worth a second and third reading, and his characters are impressively believable given their unbelievable context. Like his other masterpiece, "The Sot-Weed Factor," this is a sprawling and ribald epic, showcasing the enormous intellect and imagination of an American master in his prime.
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Summary: Modern day mythology
Review: Nobody can weave a tale like John Barth. This tale is a tapestry. I'd give it 6 stars if I could.
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Summary: the guys a genius
Review: postmodernism literature? you be the judge, barth thinks it is, i dont think postmodernism exists, I do know that barth knows how to write
Rating: 
Summary: What a shame this is coming back into print
Review: Six years ago my reading group read this book. More correctly, six years ago my reading group was SUPPOSED to read this book. I am the only one who made it all the way through. This book was so bad we named an award after it. The John Barth Award, bestowed upon those courageous enough to finish a terrible book that everyone else has cast aside. I still hold the award, as we have never come across another book as terrible as this one. It has been many years, and due to the trauma I have blocked most of the details out of my mind. However, I do remember that it is a boring, confused muddle of pretension and male chauvinism. If you see this book in the store, do not touch it, don't look at it - run in the opposite direction as quickly as you can. I gave this book one star because I had to, frankly I want to give it an infinite number of negative stars. This book was worse than the Bridges of Madison County, and I didn't think that that was possible. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!
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Summary: In the worst orientalist tradition
Review: This book is a collection of nothing more than the most blatant racist and bigoted stereotypes of Arabs and the Middle East. What is worse is that it lacks originality in even its stereotypes, regurgitating cliched ideas and ideals of the 'mysterious' Middle East from early 20th century fiction. We would never accept such bigotry in language and representation of another people and culture, but are willing participants when it is the Arabs. A National Book Award no less for this insulting book. This is a truly disappointing and disturbing read.
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Summary: The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor
Review: Very simply put - My favorite author's best story ever! Without even putting this book down I turned from the last page to the first to reread it. I have read it aloud to more than one lover. Truly a story to be shared. As a devotee and companion of Barth for thirty years I often been drawn into his layered approach to story telling, but this story of stories within stories is definitely the most readable; jumping seamlessly from one era and character set to another.
Rating:
Summary: The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor
Review: Very simply put - My favorite author's best story ever! Without even putting this book down I turned from the last page to the first to reread it. I have read it aloud to more than one lover. Truly a story to be shared. As a devotee and companion of Barth for thirty years I often been drawn into his layered approach to story telling, but this story of stories within stories is definitely the most readable; jumping seamlessly from one era and character set to another.
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Summary: Just one more tale before I die, even if it's this one
Review: While heading for Sri Lanka with his girl friend, Simon William Behler, becomes stranded, not only in place, but more importantly in time. A man of the first half of the 20th century, Simon finds himself suddenly in medieval Iraq. Simon is saved by men employed by none other than Sinbad the Sailor. Sinbad and Simon, respectively, trade tales of adventure and the adventure of growing up in a tidewater town in Baltimore. Sinbad's voyages are packed with legends and myths, right out of "1001 Arabian Nights." While Sinbad's recounting of these voyages have moments of excitement, they are poor substitutes for Simon's routine stories of growing up. I have read about similar things many times before: the first kiss, the loss of one's virginity to an older girl considered crazy by the other boys in the town. Barth presents Simon's ultimate "rite of passage" with much fanfare. I could not help but compare that to the need for Yasmin, Sinbad's daughter, to protect her virginity at all costs, with the unwanted assistance of those too eager to examine Yasmin, lest she prove herself unfit for marriage. Barth consistently pounds away at the virginity issue with the subtlety of a sledge hammer. Despite its occasional bright spots, most noteworthy the nature of Simon's birth and his strange "relationship" with his twin sister, _The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor_ is a huge disappointment. I expect more originality and humor from the author of _Tidewater Tales_ and _Giles Goat Boy_. In those two books Barth is a master in combining Greek mythology and other fantasy with great plots, lots of imagination, and a raucously witty writing style. In _The Last Voyage_ Barth too often falls into cliche and misses his usual standard considerably.
Rating:
Summary: Just one more tale before I die, even if it's this one
Review: While heading for Sri Lanka with his girl friend, Simon William Behler, becomes stranded, not only in place, but more importantly in time. A man of the first half of the 20th century, Simon finds himself suddenly in medieval Iraq. Simon is saved by men employed by none other than Sinbad the Sailor. Sinbad and Simon, respectively, trade tales of adventure and the adventure of growing up in a tidewater town in Baltimore. Sinbad's voyages are packed with legends and myths, right out of "1001 Arabian Nights." While Sinbad's recounting of these voyages have moments of excitement, they are poor substitutes for Simon's routine stories of growing up. I have read about similar things many times before: the first kiss, the loss of one's virginity to an older girl considered crazy by the other boys in the town. Barth presents Simon's ultimate "rite of passage" with much fanfare. I could not help but compare that to the need for Yasmin, Sinbad's daughter, to protect her virginity at all costs, with the unwanted assistance of those too eager to examine Yasmin, lest she prove herself unfit for marriage. Barth consistently pounds away at the virginity issue with the subtlety of a sledge hammer. Despite its occasional bright spots, most noteworthy the nature of Simon's birth and his strange "relationship" with his twin sister, _The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor_ is a huge disappointment. I expect more originality and humor from the author of _Tidewater Tales_ and _Giles Goat Boy_. In those two books Barth is a master in combining Greek mythology and other fantasy with great plots, lots of imagination, and a raucously witty writing style. In _The Last Voyage_ Barth too often falls into cliche and misses his usual standard considerably.
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