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darknessfish 's review for:
A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters
by Julian Barnes
I struggle with short-story collections at the best of times. Quite often they appear to be just bits of story ideas that don't start well, and don't really have an ending. But Barnes avoids that problem, by the tried and tested method of trying to cross-reference various components of the stories throughout, making a necklace out of a few misshapen lumps of plastic.
The main problem with these stories, is that they fall into three camps, trying to be informative, trying to be funny, or trying to show some essential irony. But Barnes' prose is as dry as sandpaper, and his wit completely lacking. The 'twist' from the opening Noah's ark piece is blindingly obvious from the start, and that's the most innovative, freewheeling flight of fancy here. Yet he keeps resurrecting the corpse of that gag throughout the work, as if it's the funniest thing he's ever heard.
It's a bone-dry, uninteresting, irritating collection of half-thought out ideas and forced, clumsy attempts at humour. I'm assured he's a better novelist than he's shown here. He has to be.
The main problem with these stories, is that they fall into three camps, trying to be informative, trying to be funny, or trying to show some essential irony. But Barnes' prose is as dry as sandpaper, and his wit completely lacking. The 'twist' from the opening Noah's ark piece is blindingly obvious from the start, and that's the most innovative, freewheeling flight of fancy here. Yet he keeps resurrecting the corpse of that gag throughout the work, as if it's the funniest thing he's ever heard.
It's a bone-dry, uninteresting, irritating collection of half-thought out ideas and forced, clumsy attempts at humour. I'm assured he's a better novelist than he's shown here. He has to be.