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66th out of 100 books
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The Unfortunates
by
B.S. Johnson
B.S. Johnson s lost classic has been showered with praise: New York Magazine named The Unfortunates one of their Ten Best Books of 2008, listed in The New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2008, and The Los Angeles Times declared it to be his most daring work. A legendary 1960s experiment in form, The Unfortunates is B. S. Johnson s famous book in a box, in which the chapter...more
Boxed Set, 176 pages
Published
April 29th 2008
by New Directions Publishing Corporation
(first published January 1st 1969)
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I'm a sucker for gimmicky books, so when I saw this "book-in-a-box" no one had to twist my arm to get me to purchase it, and I'm glad I did. Unlike some of the other gimmicky books I've read (House of Leaves, The Raw Shark Texts), you don't get the impression that B.S. Johnson was patting himself on the back for being clever as he wrote this. If the introduction is to be believed, he actually probably was patting himself on the back as he wrote it, but you wouldn't know it to read it. ...more
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In this book's introduction, Jonathan Coe states that Johnson felt a novel's primary goal was to call attention to itself, to comment on its own limitations, structure, etc. This is not what I think a novel's primary goal is, or should be, and it didn't bode well for my enjoyment of this book. Since the book is unbound, made up of maybe thirty little signatures that you can read in any order (except for the first and last), it's quite obvious that structure was #1 in Johnson's mind. In order for...more
B(ryan) S(tanley) Johnson is one of the most intriguing writers I know of. A biography of him, LIKE A FIERY ELEPHANT, has recently appeared and there appears to be somewhat of a revival of interest in him (though not at Baltimore's public library, which I work for and which keeps discarding his books). His work was strongly influenced by Beckett but to be honest, I'd take B.S. over Sam B. any day. THE UNFORTUNATES, only recently published in the US, consists of a series of separately bound-toget...more
Bizarre, book in a box. An fabulous experiment that works --- though it won't be to everyone's taste.
In the late 60s, Johnson, a sports reporter, went to Nottingham to report on a soccer match. A veteran traveler, he didn't realize he had already visited Nottingham before and it only gradually dawned on him that, in fact, not only had he been here before, but this was where a very close friend of his had lived --- and died---a rather long, painful death of cancer.
In The Unfortu...more
In the late 60s, Johnson, a sports reporter, went to Nottingham to report on a soccer match. A veteran traveler, he didn't realize he had already visited Nottingham before and it only gradually dawned on him that, in fact, not only had he been here before, but this was where a very close friend of his had lived --- and died---a rather long, painful death of cancer.
In The Unfortu...more
Wrote this fuller review for Lloyd and Rob's blog:
The first thing to say about ‘The Unfortunates’ is that this isn’t a book about football. Although the setting is the narrator’s assignment to report on a first division football match, this is just the tableau for a series of half-recalled recollections on his relationship with a close friend who has recently died of cancer. But football doesn’t, generally, make good literature anyway. Writers and film-makers tend to accentuate or e...more
The first thing to say about ‘The Unfortunates’ is that this isn’t a book about football. Although the setting is the narrator’s assignment to report on a first division football match, this is just the tableau for a series of half-recalled recollections on his relationship with a close friend who has recently died of cancer. But football doesn’t, generally, make good literature anyway. Writers and film-makers tend to accentuate or e...more
Twenty minutes ago, I had this review in the bag. I had taken thorough notes, had arranged them by topic, and had even highlighted passages to quote.
And then B. S. Johnson, the author of The Unfortunates, dropped this bomb on me in the second to last paragraph:
“The difficulty is to understand without generalization, to see each piece of received truth, or generalization, as true only if it is true for me, solipsism again, I come back to it again, and for no other reason. In ...more
And then B. S. Johnson, the author of The Unfortunates, dropped this bomb on me in the second to last paragraph:
“The difficulty is to understand without generalization, to see each piece of received truth, or generalization, as true only if it is true for me, solipsism again, I come back to it again, and for no other reason. In ...more
Okay this was a book I should have read a long time ago, and I finally read. the content is 4 stars the structure is 3 stars.
lets talk form first. I respect the avant garde thing of splitting up the book. However, content wise:
the book has two pieces memory and present. The memories are these cool intermixed first fiancée/wife and his friend dying and the association of the two, also memories of his first 2 novels. In comparison with present day Ginnie, being a reporter...more
lets talk form first. I respect the avant garde thing of splitting up the book. However, content wise:
the book has two pieces memory and present. The memories are these cool intermixed first fiancée/wife and his friend dying and the association of the two, also memories of his first 2 novels. In comparison with present day Ginnie, being a reporter...more
This is experimental fiction from the 1960s, and it's the most unusual book I've ever read. It comes in 27 separate sections, unbound, in a box, like boxed sets of greeting cards sometimes do. The first and last sections are labelled so you know where to start and finish, but in between, you read the sections in random order.
It's not just cleverness for the sake of it. It's a representation of a man's mind when he is distracted from his work by grief. It's not difficult to read, it's l...more
It's not just cleverness for the sake of it. It's a representation of a man's mind when he is distracted from his work by grief. It's not difficult to read, it's l...more
This book consists of twenty seven unbound sections packaged in a box to be read in random order. Although this seems gimmicky, after reading the book I found it to be a simple and effective technique for illustrating the way that memory works. And memory is fundamentally what this book is "about". "The Unfortunates" is an autobiographical narrative concerning the authors' routine trip to Newcastle to cover a soccer match. (Johnson was a sports writer.) Traveling to this ...more
Experimental novelist B.S Johnson crafts a moving tale in an entirely unique way. Telling the story of a man on his way to cover a soccer match, Johnson emphasizes the transitory nature of life and memory as the man confronts the ghosts of a friend who died of terminal cancer. Not a "book" per se, this novel comes as 27 separate sections, some only one page long, to be read in random order. Mirroring adeptly how memory blindsides a person and how close to the surface emotions like grie...more
David
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommended to David by:
Michael Dirda, Washington Post
Shelves:
read-fiction
People aren't supposed to write reviews of B. S. Johnson's The Unfortunates in ham-handed homage to Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5. I'm certainly not going to do it anymore. I've finished my incomprehensible review. The next one I write is going to be coherent. This one is a failure, and had to be, since it was written by a pillar of salt about an unbound bunch of chapters, chosen randomly from a box.
Listen: B. S. Johnson's journalist hero has become unstuck in time. He ends one ra...more
Listen: B. S. Johnson's journalist hero has become unstuck in time. He ends one ra...more
If you live with a significant other, or a roommate, or a parent or sibling or aunt or summer boarder, you could read this book in partnership, each of you taking one of the short sections, reading it, then sorting it into its appropriate pile (I've Read But He Hasn't, He's Read But I Haven't, We've Both Read, Neither Of Us Has Read). This might be a fun game, and a unique kind of bonding experience.
Unfortunately, since I live alone, having a book-in-a-box, the sections of which can ...more
Unfortunately, since I live alone, having a book-in-a-box, the sections of which can ...more
Erin
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
those looking to find another house of leaves.
so, for anyone not familiar with this book, johnson wanted to write a stream of consciousness book that was not dependent on binding to determine how the reader would string the thoughts together. in talking with friends about this book, i don't think i ever referred to it by its title. i have instead nicknamed it the book in a box. as in, "can you hand me my book in a box?" the writer is actually very talented, so this is more than just a novelty. in fact, the writing needed to b...more
The Unfortunates is Johnson’s notorious “novel in a box.” Its signatures of varying length are held together by a ribbon and there are 27 of them, the first of which is marked First and last of which is marked Last and those in between were randomly ordered by the collator with the reader invited to further randomize the order. Why, you might ask? The novel is a work of non-fiction in the form of a novel—throughout his life, Johnson insisted on that elusive distinction. It captures the work assi...more
As something of an anorak, this book drew me in when I guessed the location of the football ground visited by the sports reporter hero of the novel: the City Ground in Nottingham. The novel comes in a box and one is encouraged to shuffle the pages whilst making sure to read the introduction first and the conclusion last. The consequent interlinked chain of impressions of broken family relations and the terrible onset of illness in the North Midlands is powerful indeed.
Even though it may seem gimmicky, the fact that this book can be shuffled and read in any order really drives home the point I thought the author was trying to make. Mainly that our memories do not operate on a chronological time line. It affected me deeply because I have had a similar experience of watching someone close to you wither away while battling cancer.
This novel in a box, which I thought might be merely gimmicky, turns out to work quite well. I opened it up & shuffled the 25 interior sections into some random order different from that in which they had been packaged, and commenced reading. The book tells a poignant story in a very realistic rendering of the interior monologue of the narrator, and it's pretty clear it would have read just about as well no matter what the order of the several sections. I was pleased with the placement of the ne...more
This novel is very typical of Johnson's style, which is long-winded and often self-deprecating. It was a fun read, though. It has 27 chapters: beginning, end, and 25 loose bound packets meant to be shuffled at read at random. Makes me want to do something similar.
"Not how he died, not what he died of, even less why he died are of concern, to me, only the fact that he did die, he is dead, is important: the loss to me, to us" (from "The Unfortunates"). Who wouldn't want that said of him after leaving this mortal coil? B.S. Johnson wrote experimental novels but, more importantly, he was a great writer and this "book in a box" (where the middle, loose chapters were meant to be shuffled like cards) is a highly satisfying read....more
Удалось найти только одноименный порно-фанфик про Гарри Поттера:(
Samuel Beckett meets Ron Manager.
Isn't it, wasn't it... marvellous.
Isn't it, wasn't it... marvellous.
This is a book in a box--27 separately bound little sections that you can read in any order you want. Basically, it's a commentary on how memory works. That's cool, but when it comes down to it, I don't find it that interesting. I read about 5 of the sections, and I don't think I'm going to finish.
A book that bears repeate readings, if only because the reader may/are expected toshuffle the chapters (except the first and last). Some uncanny results though not entirely satisfactory. Sometimes feels more like a gimmick than a plan
the gimmick works. book is moving.
Must read more B. S. Johnson. This is v good and also really enjoyed Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry. Need to disassociate him from Boris Johnson in my head though - casts a shadow.
This is probably really great, but it's just too much for me. I love the form, but can't really follow that late-'60s pomo style. Sigh.
If I could read this book in any more fashions, I so completely would. Hot damn do I love you, gimmicky postmodernism.
This is being reprinted in the spring (loose-section format and all) - I'm pretty stoked!
Unbound format makes it a bit random, as yet to decide whether it is a good thing...
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B. S. Johnson (Bryan Stanley Johnson) was an English experimental novelist, poet, literary critic and film-maker.
Johnson was born into a working class family, was evacuated from London during World War II and left school at sixteen to work variously as an accounting clerk, bank junior and clerk at Standard Oil Company. However, he taught himself Latin in the evenings, attended a year's...more
More about B.S. Johnson...
Johnson was born into a working class family, was evacuated from London during World War II and left school at sixteen to work variously as an accounting clerk, bank junior and clerk at Standard Oil Company. However, he taught himself Latin in the evenings, attended a year's...more
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