Nothing to Be Frightened Of

Nothing to Be Frightened Of
by Julian Barnes

Nothing to Be Frightened Of
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Book Summary Information

Author: Julian Barnes
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-09-02
ISBN: 0307269639
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Knopf

Book Reviews of Nothing to Be Frightened Of

Book Review: Amateur, do-it-yourself stuff
Summary: 2 Stars

On page 39 Barnes writes, "Perhaps I should warn you (especially if you are philosopher, theologian, or biologist) that some of this book my strike you as amateur, do-it-yourself stuff," and on page 165 he warns that his mind "lollops from anecdote to anecdote." No kidding, Joolz. On the backcover Kate Summerscale claims this book is a "disquisition" on death. Uh, not quite. This book is an assortment anecdotes and quotes from a gang of Frenchmen that Barnes was unable to pull together into a coherent whole---and his "lolloping", coincidental expository style is rather maddening (just try to follow the "argument" on pages 144-149).

A strange book. He is an unbeliever that cant stop talking about the Big G. I should have thought after reflecting on the ideas of Newton, Darwin and Freud Barnes would have, like other intellectuals, adopted some mechanistic view of the universe and the self. None apparent here.

Of course neither Barnes nor the parade of Frenchmen have an answer about death or God. How could they?

Since there is nothing conclusive to say about death other than it concludes life as we know it, Barnes brings in other subjects to discuss: his family, memory (curiously he makes no mention of Proust) and some observations on writing that I will delve into a little further. "Fiction...balances precise observation with the free play of imagination." Nice. "Literature can tell us best what the world consists of. It can also tell us how to live in that world, though it does it most effectively when appearing not to do so." Interesting, although it would be better to say that some literature makes suggestions of how one might live in the world; but keep going, tell me how. (I end disappointed). "...[the novelist] wants to tell the one true story." Losing interest, there isnt one true story. "....novelists conspire to present human life as a story progressing toward a meaningful conclusion" Okay, I'm done. I would argue Chekhov and Joyce, for instance, are counterexamples to that statement. In any event, it is pretty silly to try to say what "the novelist" is attempting to present, it would seem to be as varied as there are authors.

Oh! He did write a very funny bit about his last reader. I should like to extend my arms across the years and embrace that man as my brother.

Summary of Nothing to Be Frightened Of

Two years after the best-selling Arthur & George, Julian Barnes gives us a memoir on mortality that touches on faith and science and family as well as a rich array of exemplary figures who over the centuries have confronted the same questions he now poses about the most basic fact of life: its inevitable extinction.

If the fear of death is "the most rational thing in the world," how does one contend with it? An atheist at twenty, an agnostic at sixty, Barnes looks into the various arguments for and against and with God, and at the bloodline whose archivist, following his parents' death, he has become-another realm of mystery, wherein a drawer of mementos and his own memories (not to mention those of his philosopher brother) often fail to connect. There are other ancestors, too: the writers-"most of them dead, and quite a few of them French"-who are his daily companions, supplemented by composers and theologians and scientists whose similar explorations are woven into this account with an exhilarating breadth of intellect and felicity of spirit.

Deadly serious, masterfully playful, and surprisingly hilarious, Nothing to Be Frightened Of is a riveting display of how this supremely gifted writer goes about his business and a highly personal tour of the human condition and what might follow the final diagnosis.

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