Nothing to Be Frightened Of
by Julian Barnes
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Book Summary Information
Author: Julian BarnesEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Format: Deckle Edge
Published: 2008-09-02
ISBN: 0307269639
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Knopf
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780307269638
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
- Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices
Book Reviews of Nothing to Be Frightened Of
Book Review: A Worthwhile Read
Summary: 4 Stars
This book was written as a well organized series of anecdotes. In kind, here are some anecdotes, if not so well organized:
Reading this book might seem like a dreary exercise. It was, sort of. But it was also funny and contained LOTS of interesting historical anecdotes about how various famous people (mostly death-obsessed ones) died. Along the way, the author eloquently plumbs the depths of his own death-terror, including ticking off a short list of the hair-raising "ways to die" scenarios he most fears. The list contained my worst fears, and then one I had never even considered. Which now haunts me. Thank you Sir!
I don't agree with the commenters who disparage Mr. Barnes reflections on the deaths of his parents. I think these unfolded in a very well structured and thoughtful way.
As an American, the experience of walking in the shoes of a thoughtful, erudite British person contemplating death was like taking some kind of dreaded but life-saving medicine. Chemotherapy perhaps. Except it was chemo with some serious laughs. Mr. Barnes writes honestly and "in character." Which is how he proposes that most people will die, at best. If they're lucky. As a fellow alive person, I hope that between now and when he does pass on, Mr. Barnes is able to escape the various ghosts that haunt him. When we get to the sub, sub atomic level, and the sub of that, we are all just pure light after all, eh? And further, per the law of conservation of energy and all, the light CAN'T actually go out at all. So what if you can't explain it Sir? The light still cannot go out. Not now. Not ever.
The author and his philosopher-brother would certainly point out the irrationality (and jingoism) of the following statement. Waking up from the dream/nightmare of this book left me with one over-riding thought: I am glad I will die an American...and not a Brit, a Frenchman, nor any other nationality. In fact, though he confessed to never having fallen in love with New York, I'd suggest the author become an American citizen and move to sunny Califonia perhaps. Very far from perfect though it is, there is always hope out here. Maybe start by reading The China Study, become a vegan, start exercising a lot more, let the ocean rearrange your ions from time to time, and floss your gnarly Brit chompers twice a day. And thereby avoid the fate of so many other grown up British school children: dying in something akin to a horrifying Pink Floyd rock opera gone very, very badly.
Finally, Mr. Barnes, I so enjoyed your book, that, if you pass before I do, and I'm in the soggy neighborhood that will likely be your final resting place, I will surely visit your gra
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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