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Jul 15, 2011

Osho rated it:

This is my first Julian Barnes, and as I read I was very excited to have found him. I was all set to give this a five-star rating until I reached the half-chapter alluded to in the title. It's the only section of the audiobook I played at a faster rate so I could get through it more quickly. It's not clear to me whether it was an authorial intrusion or a fictive voice (either of which would have been fine); I kept wanting to yell at Barnes, "Don't wreck what you've made! It stands on its ow More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Angie rated it:

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...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jul 16, 2009

Mel rated it:

16/7

awalnya, saya makin tertarik baca buku ini setelah baca komentar lita kalau terjemahannya apik. jadi penasaran seperti apa yang terjemahannya apik. heheh. lalu menemukan kalimat seperti ini:

Kami akan menghilang secepat kami datang; bagi Anda kami seolah mimpi belaka bagi kalian. (halaman 57)
sementara dalam edisi bahasa inggrisnya:
We shall disappear just as we came, and we shall seem to you simply to have been a dream.(p. 43)

setelah itu saya lan More...

43 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

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.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 08, 2009

Jimmy rated it:

Minggu, 26 Juli 2009 - 02:57, dini hari, tempat tidur.

"Sejarah Dunia dalam 10 1/2 Bab", saya membayangkan sebuah kisah sejarah yang menyajikan fakta. Ternyata, sepertinya menyajikan fakta yang difiktifkan. Berkisah tentang spesies yang menyusup di bahtera Nuh. Dan, sepertinya spesies ini mempunyai sentimen pribadi terhadap Nuh. Entah, apa yang terjadi diantara mereka dimasa dulu dalam imajinasi spesies ini. Mungkin, kalau saat itu posisinya kuat, dia pasti sudah melakukan k More...

34 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 09, 2007

Kelly rated it:

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...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Nov 24, 2011

Haje rated it:

The book is basically what it says on the cover: Ten-and-a-half short chapters, which together cover a lot of ground. It is not, as you may be led to believe, a book about history, however.

Rather, it is one of those books that somewhat reminds me of those Official Soundtrack albums they keep releasing: “Music composed for, and inspired by, X”. The stories are, in fact, all fiction. But rather than being history, they cleverly become part of history. Or they will do – for anyone who rea More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 10, 2011

John rated it:

Karl Marx once wrote "History repeats itself, first time as tragedy, second as farce." And essentially, that is what this book is about. From Noah's Ark to modern times, Julian Barnes shows how the same themes and human desires remain constant through time in a collection of short stories. It is a clever idea. Which is why it is somewhat difficult to admit that this book was such a disappointment.

The first chapter is told from the point of view of a stowaway on Noah's A More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 31, 2010

Matt rated it:

Turns out the history of the world revolves around fabulation, woodworms, and love. Hard to argue with that. I really enjoyed this book, each of the 10 stories self-contained, but threaded together, with the 1/2 chapter bringing it all together nicely. Witty, educational, philosophical, self-deprecating, all things I was really in the mood for while riding a bike across Quebec.

Favorite lines, and there were many, so just a few now so I can harken back with fondness:

" More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 08, 2009

Paul rated it:

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...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 23, 2011

J K rated it:

I've been intending to read this book ever since my English Literature tutor raved about it back in my college years. So, put that weight of expectation behind it for starters. Add to this the considerable lure that both it and the writer receive in the press, and I think I was expecting something a little different. What we actually have here is ten - well, eleven let's be honest - short stories of varying quality. While they provide interesting viewpoints, in some cases, they either seem to en More...

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Nov 18, 2011

Maggie rated it:

very disappointed. the first chapter was so well crafted; satire at its finest and funny to boot. all the other chapters used odd mixtures of thoughts and reasoning to prove his single point: cynics, beware. even love does not exist. stop kidding yourself. hope and love are a fools errand and "history" proves it.

ridicule is a favorite tool of cynics; obviously they mistake it for satire; here too, the cynics are wrong. julian barnes uses ridicule throughout this book, a ser More...

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Feb 08, 2011

Alan rated it:

Barnes presents his fictionalised history of the world in ten numbered chapters and one unnumbered chapter.

It starts slowly, the stories in each chapters are separate and the links are clear, indeed an early criticism I had is that Barnes is making the links a little too obvious.

It goes along nicely, if tragically, with many boat trips ending in tragedy, until the unnumbered chapter called Parenthesis between the 8th and the 9th chapters. Here Barnes seems to put fict More...

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Dec 14, 2011

Riku rated it:

Turned out to be very different from what my expectations were. The thing about the book is that it just marginally qualifies as a novel, but then I thought the same about Flaubert's Parrot too, so you might discount the opinion - both have been booker shortlists after all.

It is highly entertaining and the choice of narrator in each fragment is a feat of imagination. Barnes'obsession with history and its telling comes out in this book too but this time not as a doubting narrator d More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 19, 2010

Herdi rated it:

Selesai juga ini buku akhirnya..
buku yang sangat cerdas,melihat sejarah dari sudut pandang yang tidak pernah kita duga sebelumnya.Saya senyum-senyum sendiri membaca betapa 'jujur'nya si ulat kayu menceritakan tabiat keluarga 'si tua renta tukang mabuk2an Nuh',memvonisnya yang menjadi penyebab punahnya Unicorn,bagaimana mereka diperlakukan selama perjalanan panjang itu.Yunus yang 3 hari berada di perut ikan paus.
Kanibalisme yang terjadi di kapal karam Medusa,penolakan Kapal St.Louis y More...

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Sep 03, 2009

Nura rated it:

Akhirnya selesai juga. Kesan setelah baca buku ini: basah. Hehehe... Soalnya seluruh ceritanya berkutat seputar air. Cerita paling berkesan adalah cerita si penumpang gelap di bab pertama. Narasinya yang dekonstruktif dibawakan seekor woodwoorm. Dia cerita sisi lain Nuh dan keluarganya selama dan setelah banjir besar.

Cerita kedua tentang pembajakan sebuah kapal pesiar. Agak merinding waktu baca flashback tokohnya tentang eksperimen pilot project-nya yang pake monyet. Jadi mikir sesu More...

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Apr 14, 2011

George rated it:

A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters, rather than being a straightforward novel, is a collection of somewhat related short stories with a couple of essays thrown in along the way. It starts with a firsthand account of the voyage of Noah's ark, related by a stowaway. It ends with a story about Heaven (well, New Heaven). Along the way, there are plenty of boat voyages (and mishaps), incidents of hope and faith (and challenges to both), conflicting views of religion, reflections on art and lov More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 22, 2010

Dan rated it:

Pure writing virtuosity! How did England get Amis and Barnes in the same generation?!

I think its fair to say that all the skill is aimed towards the postmodern goals of indeterminacy, intricate interconnections, and the triumph of both the personal and social construction of reality; although, Mr. Barnes does show an admirable humanism in resisting pure relativism.

I would say that he shows brilliantly, especially in his final "heaven" story, the highpoint of postmo More...

2 comments like

May 14, 2009

Joseph rated it:

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

More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 27, 2010

Matthew rated it:

A friend recommended Barnes to me earlier this year as she read A History of the World in 10½ Chapters for an English course that I, unfortunately, hadn't taken that semester. After having recommended so many novels to her I thought I'd go out and try one of her favourites and I'm certainly glad I did. Barnes' novel is hilarious, witty, and is distinctly orginal. The 10 (and ½ ) short stories in this book -- if you could call them "short stories" -- all flow together in a very enjoyabl More...

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Jul 30, 2011

Enrique rated it:

Undisputably, these loose, discontinuous short stories, contain wit, i-
magination & humour, resulting in an amusing book. Some stories are far, far away in merit from the best ones. But, in my opinion, J.Barnes
deserves recognition for two deep insights about The History of the
World & of Human Nature. It transpires in his book, how the fabulations
of the Old Testament take you straight into an inexhaustible well of
unanswerable questions & an endless string of ilogical More...

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Dec 31, 2010

Matt rated it:

This book is one of my brother's favorites, and I can sure see why. Barnes explores Noah's Ark from a variety of angles while also weaving in other subthemes (water, love, self-discovery, perspective, woodworms). The chapter in which woodworms are on trial for heresy is riveting and amazing (and a fascinating example of legal argumentation), but all of the stories are intriguing and many are outstanding. The half-chapter meditation on love manages somehow to avoid cliche and feel really true, More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 21, 2010

Elizabeth rated it:

Um...this is a really strange book that a coworker lent me.

Beginning with the flood and life on Noah's ships, as told by a stowaway species who wasn't actually invited on, there are 10 chapters about...life? Most of the chapters have something to do with water or exploration, and every now and then a chapter has some reference to an earlier chapter, but each chapter is essentially it's own short story.

I found parts of it interesting, and I'm making James read it so that I More...

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Feb 12, 2009

Pamela rated it:

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...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 10, 2011

Yalan rated it:

A brilliant example of the post-modernist novel that Julian Barnes is so fond of. 10 and a half seemingly-unrelated short stories form a novel, 10 historical and biblical events deconstructed and reconstructed by Barnes. A very mind-boggling read and one of his most major mind fucks, EVER. My favourite part, though, was chapter (the "half") titled Parenthesis in which a man talks about his love for his wife. Beautifully-written, deeply moving. I think Barnes is at his best when he's wr More...

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Oct 18, 2010

Cynthia rated it:

This is an older (1989) book from my father's bedside stack and I wish I could talk to him about it. The "chapters" can be read as individual short stories, but there are several threads that run throughout. Among them the woodworms (you have to read it), they are all related to the ocean and boats, and assorted references, they exhibit human choices. Julian changes the voice from third person to first in the later chapters and gives the reader a serious dialogue about personal choi More...

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Dec 09, 2009

Bernd rated it:

Barnes follows the earlier example of the experimental author John Barth (Lost in the funhouse) in that he invents a couple of independent short stories which however are each connected with each other. One person or thing collides or affects a person or thing of the next story. A nice if not new idea and not enough for an outstanding book. The stories themselves are funny and inventive but not extraordinarily so.

If you are interested in the Barth, see the excellent lecture on academ More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 25, 2011

Jonathan rated it:

I didn't mean to read this book, it just happened, i forgot my book at home and this was sitting in my van and suddenly 24 hours later this book was done-which means that this is a very readable book, a grouping of short stories with a fixation on the biblical story of Noah's ark-i liked most of it, thought that maybe two of the stories were not needed

and am still a bit confused as to whether my very christian family would love or hate this book, it was a book on a biblical theme tha More...

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Jun 12, 2010

Boris rated it:

I expected more from this book. It's a collection of chapters each having something to do with a boat or Noah or both. Some of the chapters are ok. Some are painful to get through. The chapter on love is god awful. The chapter on the astronaut who's on a mission from god to find Noah's ark seems pointless.
I liked the last chapter which is a description of heaven. In my heaven, this would be the only chapter in this book.
Maybe I'm not as good a judge of literature as Nadine Gordimer o More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 15, 2012

Rob rated it:

On first sight, this is not so much a novel as a collection of disparate short stories linked by recurring motifs but not linked by any big idea or common themes. But Julian Barnes has insisted that the book was conceived as a whole, and in actual fact you need to stand quite far back to appreciate the architecture of the whole.

This is a history of the world from Noah until the end of time. In the first chapter we encounter a cynical, all-knowing woodworm which has stowed away on the More...

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