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39th out of 138 books
—
132 voters
The Unfortunates
by
B.S. Johnson
BS Johson's infamous book-in-a-box is, if remembered at all, notorious for its presentation rather than its content. The "book" consists of a first and last section plus 25 other chapters, each one coming as a self-contained "pamphlet", that can be read in any order the reader likes. The subject matter concerns a journalist's day covering a football match in Nottingham, re...more
Published
1999
by Picador
(first published 1969)
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Aug 31, 2012
s.penkevich
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Your 'to-read' list
Recommended to s.penkevich by:
A little bird told me
‘How can I place his order, his disintegration?’
Through fragments of a randomized collection of memories called up while wandering through a city, the reader explores the life, loves and losses of the narrator. As such a premise would remind many of Ulysses and Joyce’s incredible use of the stream-of-consciousness, B.S. Johnson (1933-1973) manages to create something unique and inventive with The Unfortunates. His story is separated into 27 packets which are intended to be read at random aside f...more
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A book in a box. A fucking book in a box...fuck. So I buy the book and I get a box? Where's the book? It is in 1-12 page fragments, there are roughly thirty of these, inside the, er, box. Aside from the first and last they can, and ought to be, shuffled and read in random order.
Brilliant.
So I bought the book-the box. I opened it up and spread out the contents on my bed, and took pictures of it. Yeah, I did. It was the only time I had used my camera for anything other than taking saucy snaps of...more
Brilliant.
So I bought the book-the box. I opened it up and spread out the contents on my bed, and took pictures of it. Yeah, I did. It was the only time I had used my camera for anything other than taking saucy snaps of...more
14 likes · like · see review
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. The chapte...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
The new edition (1999) of The Unfortunates is, in fact, a beautiful object – a book-sized box that opens to reveal 27 individual sections, plus a forward by his biographer Jonathan Coe, all unbound. B S Johnson believed that all life was chaos and he urges us to read the sections in random order. The Unfortunates is an interior monologue – Johnson’s recollection of a soccer match and memories of his friendship with literary critic Tony Tillinghast who died of cancer at the age of 29. It seems fi...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 Unfortunates, Johnson at...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 Unfortunates, Johnson at...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 exaggerate asp...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 exaggerate asp...more
I picked this up because I was curious about the format and surprised that I had never heard of it (nor had the few colleagues I surveyed; turns out it was not published in the U.S. until the 40th anniversary edition in 2009). I found it a bit cumbersome on the material level and the novelty of the form did not necessarily accomplish anything that a stream-of-consciousness series of reflections might have done. That said, I appreciate that at the time of its first publication, it was quite inven...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 general, generalizat...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 general, generalizat...more
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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 and his son.
this all w...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 and his son.
this all w...more
4 likes · like · see review
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 like eavesd...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 like eavesd...more
4.5 stars rounded up.
Here it was he talked about the RAF. So? [10 space gap] So must others, for ever, or talk about something like it, and it does not matter to them, now, it cannot have mattered at any time to me, so why this, if it is so meaningless, anything means something only if you impose meaning on it, which in itself is a meaningless thing, the imposition.
…why do reasons matter?...Sometimes I think I shall become a Surrealist.
Another day, another review, hopefully one which will encour
...more
33 likes · like · see review
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 city to which he had not...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 grief actually...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 (if there can be a revival of interest in a writer as obscure as BSJ). 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-together chapters that can be rea...more
May 17, 2011
David
rated it
4 of 5 stars
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 randomly-chose...more
Listen: B. S. Johnson's journalist hero has become unstuck in time. He ends one randomly-chose...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 be read in w...more
Unfortunately, since I live alone, having a book-in-a-box, the sections of which can be read in w...more
May 18, 2008
Erin
rated it
4 of 5 stars
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 be solid. since...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.
first impression: this in an interesting structure devised to express the time of mourning a friend, a woman, a past, and in its deliberate renditions of vignettes of memories, in its conversational narration, certainly captures evocative recall- but, unfortunately, this is a work that leads me to think more than leads me to feel…
on reflection: to think is not a bad thing, in fact, i like to think. perhaps i will reflect and thus increase my rating, however this is a big perhaps. i may read anot...more
on reflection: to think is not a bad thing, in fact, i like to think. perhaps i will reflect and thus increase my rating, however this is a big perhaps. i may read anot...more
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.
Apart from the first and the last, the booklets can be read in any order. A set of memories of a friend brought on by a trip too a midland town. Think it must be Nottingham, castle on a sandstone cliff with caves where people lived into the 1800's. A town with an industry based on lace, and Newstead abbey nearby.
Probably better to give it a 3.5 not a 4. This book is a little insightful and amusing, but mostly drab, and perhaps not without a false air of hallowedness. I think he was trying too hard to make something meaningful. That said, he does pull through with something personal and seemingly genuine overall.
the format couldn't be better - separate signatures & leaves with passages of varying lengths that can (aside from the two labelled 'first' and 'last') be read in any order. love it.
emotionally, i didn't really connect to the story. some of the writing was lovely, and i eventually got into its halting, meandering flow. but it reminded me of when i saw 'atonement': i was completely baffled by the central relationship, to the point that i misread the whole thing and was grossly unimpressed. wi...more
emotionally, i didn't really connect to the story. some of the writing was lovely, and i eventually got into its halting, meandering flow. but it reminded me of when i saw 'atonement': i was completely baffled by the central relationship, to the point that i misread the whole thing and was grossly unimpressed. wi...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. Johnson's way of writing, his us...more
A novel concept that really just didn't do anything for me. Had I not been reading for a class, I would not have trudged through the whole thing.
OK, I loved this. I bought it for the novelty of the format, but reading sections in a random order was completely logical and appropriate to the subject matter, providing a physical dimension to the way memories arise in a nonlinear fashion. Picking up each section separately -- whether a single page or a signature of twelve -- created additional intimacy, too. It felt like reading a collection of highly personal letters. Reviewer comparisons with Joyce, Beckett and Robbe-Grillet had made me ex...more
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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 pre-univers...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 pre-univers...more
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