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rebeccabateman's review against another edition
1.0
1.5 stars
Dunn's idea is creative, but implemented in such a contrived, inane and unsophisticated manner it left me angry as I persevered through it. Chock full of lame puns and innuendo and completely lacking in quality or plot (granted, I guess that was the idea). However, had the actual book been available, I don't think I would have found it to have any merit either.
Dunn's idea is creative, but implemented in such a contrived, inane and unsophisticated manner it left me angry as I persevered through it. Chock full of lame puns and innuendo and completely lacking in quality or plot (granted, I guess that was the idea). However, had the actual book been available, I don't think I would have found it to have any merit either.
abookishtype's review against another edition
5.0
Ibid is another delightfully off-kilter work of metafiction by Mark Dunn. This is not a traditional novel by any means. It opens with a handful of letters between “Mark Dunn” and his editor that explain the unusual format of the book. “Mark” accidentally destroyed one copy of the manuscript of a biography of Jonathan Blashette, a three-legged man with an uproariously bizarre life. The editor’s son accidentally destroyed the other. All that’s left are the endnotes. One might think that endnotes aren’t enough to tell a man’s life story. In the case of Ibid, one would be proven wrong...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type.
csd17's review against another edition
3.0
Let me preface this by saying I'm a huge fan of the Author's Ella Minnow Pea. Due to the middling reviews on this book I very nearly removed it from my list. I'm so glad I didn't.
But, you might say, you only gave it 3 stars. True. Let me explain.
Dunn's creative concept is this: to tell a story completely in footnotes. He succeeds... partly. Is the story told? Yes. Did he effectively spoof historical works? Absolutely. Are some good laughs had along the way? Sure.
However, just like I would any historical notes section, I skimmed the majority of the text. Either that is a sign of it's brilliance or it is a sign of it's failure to create content that is intriguing. I, pessimistically, chose the latter because I would prefer not to read it again.
But, you might say, you only gave it 3 stars. True. Let me explain.
Dunn's creative concept is this: to tell a story completely in footnotes. He succeeds... partly. Is the story told? Yes. Did he effectively spoof historical works? Absolutely. Are some good laughs had along the way? Sure.
However, just like I would any historical notes section, I skimmed the majority of the text. Either that is a sign of it's brilliance or it is a sign of it's failure to create content that is intriguing. I, pessimistically, chose the latter because I would prefer not to read it again.
gglazer's review
3.0
The premise of this is so creative and great, but reading an entire book composed of footnotes starts to wear on you after a while (although it might be because I was reading this on a deadline and therefore more quickly than I would have liked). It didn't live up to Ella Minnow Pea, but it was clever satire.
susanhert's review
2.0
The premise of this book is quite fun, and I applaud the author's ingenuity, but, in the end, reading all the disconnected endnotes that didn't let me feel connected to any of the characters just became tedious, so I returned the book to the library having read only about 3/4 of it.
somechelsea's review
4.0
A totally out there premise - after the author sent his intensively researched and completely comprehensive biography of Jonathan Blashette to his editor, it was lost in an unfortunate reading-in-the-bath incident. And all that was left was the footnotes - which is exactly what we get here. Wacky and funny, and definitely not a format for everyone, but a lot of fun. (Seriously, the titles of the fictional books he references are wonderful in an of themselves.)
I need to reread this stat.
I need to reread this stat.
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