You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
ukhatiwara 's review for:
A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters
by Julian Barnes
So good, so bloody good. I think I found a new book to shove into people's faces.
Julian Barnes was to write years later in The Sense Of An Ending. But that's apparently not the first time he's had that thought. In fact, you can probably make the argument that history, time, and memory are the primary obsessions running through Julian Barnes's books- at least they have been in the four I've read.
Here, for instance, he tells what is clearly not the history of the world as we know it. But change the narrators of the stories we all know, tweak a few details, adjust the lighting a bit and maybe lose some of the make-up, and hey, you got a whole new history on your hands.
So here I'm thinking- If you survived the sinking of the Titanic, does that make you less a part of history than if you went down with it? How about if you were an unwanted stowaway on Noah's Ark? Does it matter on which of the equally circuitous, equally preposterous, equally horrifying paths we got here? Are there a number of possible pasts we can switch between, and can choosing the right past affect our future just so? Why can't I squeeze the toothpaste back int...never mind.
"History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation,"
Julian Barnes was to write years later in The Sense Of An Ending. But that's apparently not the first time he's had that thought. In fact, you can probably make the argument that history, time, and memory are the primary obsessions running through Julian Barnes's books- at least they have been in the four I've read.
Here, for instance, he tells what is clearly not the history of the world as we know it. But change the narrators of the stories we all know, tweak a few details, adjust the lighting a bit and maybe lose some of the make-up, and hey, you got a whole new history on your hands.
So here I'm thinking- If you survived the sinking of the Titanic, does that make you less a part of history than if you went down with it? How about if you were an unwanted stowaway on Noah's Ark? Does it matter on which of the equally circuitous, equally preposterous, equally horrifying paths we got here? Are there a number of possible pasts we can switch between, and can choosing the right past affect our future just so? Why can't I squeeze the toothpaste back int...never mind.