A review by dllh
A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters by Julian Barnes

4.0

This is a weird book for me. It came highly recommended, and I was excited to read it, but it took me a long time to get through what is a pretty short book. It's not history (though sometimes it's history-ish) and not always quite fiction. It's not quite a short story collection but also not quite a novel. The writing by and large isn't beautiful, but neither is it unbeautiful. It is I believe by design largely a book rooted in contradiction, which is likely part of why I'm unable to classify it in a straightforward way. It is certainly a book of ideas. I liked a lot of it and loved the last chapter. One day I'd like to read it again at a time when I'm less busy and can read it more closely over the course of two or three nights rather than scattered over several weeks.