A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters

by Julian Barnes

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1,166 ratings, 3.90 average rating, 121 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		30%
4		39%
3		22%
2		6%
1		1%

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published

November 27th 1990 (first published 1989) by Vintage

binding

Paperback, 320 pages

isbn

0679731377 (isbn13: 9780679731375)

description

This is, in short, a complete, unsettling, and frequently exhilarating vision of the world, starting with the voyage of Noah's ark and ending with a s...more

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05/04/08

R. marked it as to-read

bookshelves: to-read

The Short Career of Luke Skyywalker, Audiobook Narrator; or Why Aren't These Homeschooled Kids Actually Reading the Books, Because It's Not Like They Have Four Minutes Between Classes and a Locker With a Bent Frame That Takes a Lot of Work To Get Open*

From an Amazon.Com review: "We are a homeschooling family Imagine my shock when I was in the next room as my son was listening to this in his room, and I hear the "f" word, not once, but used repeatedly in one of the stor...more

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3 comments

03/08/07

Angie rated it:

Read in June, 2006

recommends it for: people who like to make fun of religion

Julian Barnes became one of my favs after reading this book.
Each chapter reads as a sperate story but connected by a religious theme in each, albeit a skewed and revisionist view of various religions.

Chapter one starts the book with a hilarious re-telling of Noah's ark by a stowaway...a woodworm. Apparently the unicorn was tossed overboard because Noah became jealous of it's um...horn. Chapter 3 revisits the woodworms as they are being tried for heresey after infesting the B...more

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05/09/07

Kelly Franklin Robinson rated it:

Read in February, 2007

I originally assumed, based on its title, that A History of the World in 10 1/2 chapters was actually a history of the world in 10 1/2 chapters. I thought it would be a quirky, ultra-condensed version of all recorded history. And it IS quirky. But it's actually a series of history-themed short stories.

I had it on my wishlist based on the rave reviews from Amazon, claiming that the book is pure genius. A top review calls it a "sardonic, original, and mischievous mind on a tear."...more

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06/08/09

Paul Wright rated it:

Read in June, 2009

An uneven work, although the second and first half of the fifth chapters are brilliant.

Noah in this telling is a little like the Mel Brooks Moses who was given fifteen . . . whoops . . . ten commandments. Here Noah loses most of his flotilla and a good part of the animal kingdom:
". . . he'd have been court-martialled if there'd been anyone around to sit on the bench. And for all his bluster, he felt guilty about losing half the Ark. Guilt, immaturity, the constant str...more

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06/18/07

Karen rated it:

I love the story about his wife's neck and hair; very romantic. I believe the same wife was Martin Amis's agent and when he got a new agent J. and M. got in a big fight, or something? Hence the three stars; I'm more interested in his dust-up with Martin Amis than his writing. I suppose that's a personal problem.

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05/06/09

Joseph rated it:

bookshelves: books-i-own

Read in May, 2009

Julian Barnes A History of the World In 10 1/2 Chapters is a set of loosely connected stories revolving mostly around the story of Noah and the Great Flood. The first is a hilarious retelling of the story by a "stowaway" on the Ark. The second is an even funnier story of insects being tried in a criminal proceeding, made even funnier by the fact that the story appears to be based on actual historical documents of animals being tried during the middle ages. While the first two storie

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01/07/09

~furyu rated it:

(review of isbn 0224026690)

Read in January, 2009

recommends it for: Those who like pretentious, urbane work.

This was my introduction to Julian Barnes' work. It wasn't what I expected and maybe that's why it disappointed me. I was expecting a novel that takes one from point A to Z with consistent thread; this is a loosely thematic collection of short stories and essays. Had I selected it knowing that, rather than expecting a conventional novel, my opinion of it might be different.

Barnes' is an excellent writer, no doubt about that, and obviously a deep thinker. I'm sure he could wax elo...more

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03/03/09

Jamie rated it:

bookshelves: summer-reading-list-09

Read in July, 2009

recommended to Jamie by: Professor Gray

The proper rating here would be four-and-a-half stars, I think; I positively gorged on Barnes' wit and flashy prose, but I think the only thing that held me back from a full five-star rating was that, despite my intellectual engagement with the 'novel' (short story collection?), I often felt a bit detached from his characters. There wasn't the emotional resonance there, except perhaps in his sort of 'discourse' on love ("Parenthesis") and in the absolutely riveting chapter, "The ...more The proper rating here would be four-and-a-half stars, I think; I positively gorged on Barnes' wit and flashy prose, but I think the only thing that held me back from a full five-star rating was that, despite my intellectual engagement with the 'novel' (short story collection?), I often felt a bit detached from his characters. There wasn't the emotional resonance there, except perhaps in his sort of 'discourse' on love ("Parenthesis") and in the absolutely riveting chapter, "The Visitors."

That said, this was a biting, quick-paced, fascinating collection of loosely-intertwined vignettes; some rooted in fiction, some in history, some in a sort of 'essay' style, but most often, these shorts were a blend of all three. In that way, I suppose Barnes would be called a post-modernist (I don't know much about him, but that I picked this up on recommendation from a favorite professor), because the central myth he's revising here is that of Noah's Ark--which is the story that ties everything together, even if only through vague allusions (for instance, "The Visitors" is set on a cruise ship, where the passengers enter in pairs, imagined as if on Noah's Ark--and then of course, without spoiling too much, there's the question of who 'deserves' to be on the cruise by way of nationality). The first tale, and it seems the most remembered in other reviews, is a very straightforward reimagining of Noah's Ark; Noah is, somewhat expectedly, a drunkard and tyrant; his daughters-in-law are naughty 'loose women' (one of whom gets the unicorn tossed overboard, after her indiscretions with it are discovered); the ark itself, and its passengers, are made vividly, and sometimes disturbingly, real in a very tangible, fleshy sense. All told through the eyes of the 'stowaway'--a woodworm. It's often laugh-out-loud hilarious; blasphemous (which I love); and Barnes writing--despite that loose 'pomo' label--is so engaging and inviting that the book quickly became a page turner.

Of the others, I've mentioned "The Visitors"--a tale of terrorism aboard a cruise ship--and there are also tales of catastrophe ("Shipwreck") and what it means to turn catastrophe into art (part II of that same story); a mock-vision of Heaven's inevitable fallibility ("The Dream"); two stories in which characters take pilgrimages to Ararat to discover the wreckage of the Ark, which are again loosely interconnected in a very light, winking way ("The Mountain" and "Project Ararat"); and even a translation of a 16th century trial in which a church attempts to have the woodworm excommunicated ("The Wars of Religion"). As I said, Noah's Ark--or at least the same sort of seafaring search for meaning--pervades each of the stories. Perhaps more importantly, though, Barnes seeks out those 'big' questions that are always so challenging to tackle--why do we look to religion for purpose? Or why is it that we deploy art as a means of organizing our chaos? What is the use of love as a crutch, and what sorts of things constitute love in the contemporary imagination?

Barnes doesn't offer answers here--and really, it's the ambiguities of this collection that leave the reader panting for more. His wonderful sense of humor and his no-nonsense look at these human struggles ultimately make for a provocative--and really fun, frankly--read. Two chapters are, I confess, a bit weaker than the others ("The Survivor," which is incredibly predictable about one-third of the way through, and "Three Simple Stories," which don't have enough substance to grasp onto), but compared to other authors' 'weak' short stories, they would still shine. It's just that within such a strong series of vignettes, these two don't glimmer as brightly as their compatriots. I've noticed many people complain about Barnes' endeavor to "show off" as an author--and certainly, as I said at the beginning of the review, he does have a rather flashy style. I'd say that's actually what makes "The Survivor," for example, so predictable. But I've never understood that qualm with "show off" authors--for what are writers, really, other than magicians, so to speak? They've got their box of tricks, and some tricks flare more vibrantly--some are more subtle. Each has its validity, and Barnes' style does not wear thin in this collection--it was a real joy to read. (less)

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01/08/09

Olivia rated it:

(review of isbn 0394221796)

bookshelves: general-fiction, university-textbooks

Read in March, 2009

I really don't know how I feel about this one. My prof. raved about it, saying it was a great novel and, seeing as we both liked alot of the same works, I expected it to be damn good. Well, I just finished reading it and still don't know the significance of the title - that bothers me. Next, it started off good, with the retelling of Noah's Ark and how Noah really was...that was interesting - I had never thought of Noah that way. There were a couple of chapters that conveyed interesting irony an...more

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06/16/08

Victory rated it:

bookshelves: historical-fiction

Read in June, 2008

I tried. I really tried to like this book. But it went from a 3/4 to a 1 star by the end.

I liked the first story about a stowaway on Noah's ark. And there was a lovely story about "The Shipwreck" a painting which my edition has a nice fold out of so you can look and see what is being talked about. I very much liked those stories even if the shipwreck story was a little dry. I didn't make it through "legal papers" of a "trial", although I tried har...more

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02/04/08

Matthew rated it:

bookshelves: fiction

Read in January, 2008

recommends it for: writers

I really liked the start, middle and end of this book, but not the parts in the middle. Ok, let me explain that. It starts with a very funny first chapter on Noah's Ark, and ends with a brilliant story about the author dreaming of Heaven. The 5th chapter is a discussion of a painting, and how, or whether, it reflects the historical incident, and how, or whether, the process of art has added value to the experience.

The first half of the book is great, but I felt the second half got a...more

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02/20/09

Ingrid rated it:

Read in February, 2009

So, I adored Julian Barnes' Arthur and George, and I read this book because it's supposed to be one of his early masterpieces. And it is compellingly readable, thought-provoking and clever. Barnes is a wonderful prose stylist, too. BUT (there had to be one) the book as a whole wears its "smartest guy at Oxbridge" badge a little too prominently. I love the conceit, of taking episodes from world history--some famous, some little known--and fictionalizing them. But the book comes off...more

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12/04/08

Daniel rated it:

(review of isbn 0330313991)

bookshelves: currently-reading

I think Mr Barnes gets unfairly seen as an intellectual writer, which is a shame as there’s a romantic heart that beats thorough all his best work. Witness the 1/2 chapter here where he breaks the novel to talk directly about the nature of love. An excellent book. The chapters are like short stories that swirl over time and space linked by themes the narratives weave in and out of each other...
obviously too late for me to be trying to write book reviews. will finish when my brain works

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04/04/09

Cyn0514 rated it:

(review of other edition)

bookshelves: indonesian, sketsa

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in April, 2009

Jadi....yang saya tangkap dari buku ini adalah :
- tulisan yang mengolok-olok sejarah
- ketidak-percayaan pada Tuhan
- rasa skeptis terhadap cinta

Wow...apa lagi yang tersisa dari hidup yang seperti itu?

Ada beberapa bagian yang memang akan membuka cara pandang baru terhadap segala hal, namun jika digambarkan dengan nada sinis dalam kadar keterlaluan seperti itu, meski beberapa orang mungkin menganggapnya realistik atau bahkan lucu - hilarious, yang tersisa h...more

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09/04/08

Joe rated it:

Started off very promisingly, with a chapter about a woodworm telling the true story of Noah’s Ark, with criticism of humans and myths about Noah and all our preconceived notions about our superiority. Then it deteriorated. Some chapters were interesting, but ultimately foundered on their own cleverness. The point is made and brought home in the first few pages, but Barnes insists on carrying on with the clever “joke” for another 25 pages. Some were tedious from the outset, with the cle...more

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01/06/09

Layne rated it:

Read in December, 2008

I heard somewhere that this book was "post-modern," so I put off reading it for a long time. But I picked it up a few weeks ago and really liked it. It's a collections of barely (like not even really at all) connected stories, some of them are funny and some are thought-provoking. I found myself really liking Julian Barnes by the time I was done with it.

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09/05/07

Ashley rated it:

bookshelves: books-i-own, fiction, read-for-school

Read in November, 2007

When I read the first two chapters of this book I was blown away. The first is absolutely hysterical, and the second begins that way, but leaves you staring at the book in disbelief, unsure what to make of what just happened. I couldn't wait to read the rest, but I have to say that I was a little disappointed.
While each story is very clever, and the connections that run through the book are fun to find, I found myself getting a little bored. The chapter titled "The Mountain"...more

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02/05/09

Vivencio rated it:

can't decide if i like this better than flaubert's parrot. uneven as in most good reads but the take on noah's ark is a hoot. the uninvited passenger ruminating over the ignoble purposes for which the unicorn's horn was used by the wife of noah's wife is a laugh out loud vignette.

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12/20/08

Becca rated it:

bookshelves: novels

Read in December, 2008

This book almost wound up on the Did-Not-Finish shelf. I was disappointed because I absolutely loved Barnes' Arthur and George. Unfortunately, A History just didn't do it for me. There were chapters that were great and I just couldn't stop reading - and then the next chapter would be dry and boring and torturous.

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02/20/09

Lisa rated it:

I haven't read this book in a long time, but about twenty years ago, it was my favorite. I gave it to a friend to read about ten years ago, and she hated it. I've been afraid to reread it ever since.

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quotes from this book

"How do you turn catastrophe into art? Nowadays the process is automatic. A nuclear plant explodes? We'll have a play on the London stage within a year. A President is assissinated? You can have the book or the film or the filmed book or booked film. War? Send in the novelists. A series of gruesome murders? Listen for the tramp of the poets. We have to understand it, of course, this catastrophe; to understand it, we have to imagine it, so we need the imaginative arts. But we also need to justify it and forgive it, this catastrophe, however minimally. Why did it happen, this mad act of Nature, this crazed human moment? Well, at least it produced art. Perhaps, in the end, that's what catastrophe is for." More quotes...